Judge Michael Donio signed the order after the Atlantic County prosecutor told him the former Baltimore Ravens running back had completed the terms of his pretrial intervention.

Under terms of the program, Rice paid $125 in fines and received anger management counselling.

Rice was charged with third-degree aggravated assault. His attorney described what happened in February 2014 at Atlantic City’s Revel Casino Hotel as “little more than a misunderstanding.”

However, Rice’s promising career with the NFL turned after TMZ released videos that showed him dragging his fiancee, Janay Palmer, out of the elevator after he struck her.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games, then suspended him indefinitely after a second video revealed the knockout punch.

Rice appealed, and an arbitrator reinstated him. However, Rice has yet to sign with a team.

Rice’s admission into the state’s pretrial interview program drew criticism.

Only 70 of the more than 15,000 domestic violence assault cases adjudicated from 2010 to 2013 in New Jersey’s Superior Court were admitted into the pretrial intervention program, according to records obtained by The Associated Press.

New Jersey guidelines advise that those who commit violent crimes should “generally be rejected” from the program, but Atlantic County Prosecutor Jim McClain, who handled the case, says he signed off on it after reviewing the circumstances and consulting with Palmer, who married Ray Rice after a grand jury indicted him.

The intervention program is seen as a key tool as the state tries to keep low-level suspects out of jail.

Defendants can have charges dismissed if they meet all the program’s conditions, which can include random urine testing, community service and restitution. PTI supervision averages from one to three years, according to the state.

Of the 15,029 people charged with assault in domestic violence cases from 2010 to 2013, 8,203 had their cases dismissed or downgraded to a lower court, according to the data provided by the state judiciary. Nearly 3,100 pleaded guilty, 13 were found guilty at trial and nine were found not guilty.

The apology was read by host James Duthie on Sportscentre on Tuesday night and posted prominently on the network’s website after Phaneuf, Cuthbert and Lupul sent a letter threatening legal action earlier in the day.

The insinuating tweet about Lupul and Cuthbert was included in an ongoing social media crawl at the bottom of the screen Monday.

“In spite of TSN’s protocols to prevent unfounded and inappropriate tweets from making it to air, a false, and inappropriate tweet was allowed to run,” TSN said in the statement. “There was no basis for the false allegation made in this tweet. TSN unreservedly apologizes to Joffrey Lupul, Dion Phaneuf and Elisha Cuthbert and regrets any embarrassment this unfortunate incident has caused to them.”

Leafs players were reportedly angry about the tweet.

Hockey commentator Bob McKenzie, one of TSN’s most high-profile personalities, also echoed the network’s statement on the air.

The apology was repeated again during the network’s pre-game coverage of the Maple Leafs’ game at Florida.

Earlier Tuesday, lawyer Peter A. Gall, who is representing Phaneuf, Cuthbert and Lupul, sent a letter to TSN demanding that the network “issue a formal apology and pay a significant amount of damages to each of our clients for broadcasting a false and defamatory tweet during their trade deadline show.”

TSN did not reference the demand for damages in its statement.

Gall also said he was “sending a similar letter to the author of the tweet, Mr. Anthony Adragna.”

Gall threatened a lawsuit against both TSN and Adragna if they did not comply with the demands set out in the letters.

Adragna, who later deleted the offending tweet, did not immediately respond to a message on Twitter seeking comment. Earlier Tuesday he tweeted that his “words actually getting on air is out of my control.”

TSN also tweeted an apology Monday from its public relations account, calling the tweet “inappropriate and disrespectful.” The network also said that it had reached out to the Leafs and “those impacted to extend our sincerest apologies for our error.” It also said the tweet was erroneously aired.

On Monday, Lupul wrote on Twitter: “TSN just a poor mans TMZ. Embarrassing.”

Gall said his clients will not be discussing the matter further and referred all questions to his office.

]]>Brooklyn Nets at Toronto RaptorsthecanadianpressTORONTO, CANADA - MAY 6: Dion Phaneuf #3 and Joffrey Lupul #19 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skate during warm up prior to Game Three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals against the Boston Bruins during the 2013 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs May 6, 2013 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)TSN apologizes for airing inappropriate tweet about Toronto Maple Leafs forward Joffrey Lupulhttp://o.canada.com/sports/tsn-apologizes-for-airing-inappropriate-tweet-about-toronto-maple-leafs-forward-joffrey-lupul
Mon, 02 Mar 2015 18:47:07 +0000https://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com?p=595026&preview_id=595026]]>TORONTO — TSN has apologized for an inflammatory fan tweet that the network aired during its NHL trade deadline coverage.

A Toronto Maple Leafs fan wrote an insinuating tweet about Leafs forward Joffrey Lupul and Dion Phaneuf’s wife, actress Elisha Cuthbert. The tweet made it onto the network as part of an ongoing crawl at the bottom of the screen.

“Earlier today, an inappropriate and disrespectful tweet was erroneously aired,” the network wrote on its public relations account. “As soon as it was flagged, we immediately removed it. We’ve reached out to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and all those impacted to extend our sincerest apologies for our error.

“It should have never, ever gone to air.”

]]>Joffrey LupulthecanadianpressScott Stinson: Roger Goodell’s handling of Ray Rice assault was bafflingly amateurishhttp://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/scott-stinson-goodells-handling-of-rice-assault-was-bafflingly-amateurish
http://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/scott-stinson-goodells-handling-of-rice-assault-was-bafflingly-amateurish#respondFri, 12 Dec 2014 00:21:57 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=560891]]>One of the interesting things about the ruling of Barbara Jones, the former judge who determined that Roger Goodell had abused his discretion with his indefinite suspension of running back Ray Rice, is that it describes exactly how the NFL commissioner could have avoided this mess of his own making in the first place.

No one disputes that Goodell was too lenient in his initial two-game suspension of Rice, which came despite it being plainly evident that the former Baltimore Ravens player had knocked out his then-fiancée in an altercation inside an Atlantic City casino elevator, and that he had dragged her unconscious body out of it, seemingly annoyed at her inability to take a punch.

Roger Goodell made almost no effort to discover the facts of the Ray Rice assault prior to imposing his initial two-game ban — including not ensuring his security staff obtain the elevator video. (AP Photo)

Goodell himself has said that he “didn’t get it right,” but has never really explained what he means by that, preferring instead to push through a new personal conduct policy that the league announced sombrely on Wednesday. He’s also clung to the insistence that Rice misled him in some way about the severity of the February assault, which was his justification for the indefinite suspension given in early September, right after TMZ posted the inside-the-elevator video.

But in finding last month that Rice “did not mislead the commissioner,” the arbitrator Jones wrote that “any failure on the part of the league to understand the level of violence was not due to Rice’s description of the event, but to the inadequacy of words to convey the seriousness of domestic violence.”

Further, Jones wrote, “that the League did not realize the severity of the conduct without a visual record also speaks to their admitted failure in the past to sanction this type of conduct more severely.”

Those two sentences would have been the start of a decent mea culpa on behalf of Goodell after the elevator video was released in September. It took the video depiction of the punch for the NFL to realize that a two-game ban was ridiculous; words alone had been inadequate. The commissioner could have acknowledged that the video was evidence of how easy it was to minimize, even subconsciously, the circumstances of a domestic assault: a “hit” could mean a lot of things. He could have apologized for past mistakes and vowed to improve the conduct policy, things he had already promised anyway.

But instead he effectively called Rice a liar, banned him indefinitely, and set off the appeal process that has revealed the commissioner to not just be a farcical judge, but to be completely out of his depth. In so doing, he has set back the cause of Gary Bettman and the other sports commissioners, who want the ability to act outside of the legal process when athletes are accused of serious wrongdoing. Players and their unions worry that this will lead to punishments based not on the evidence of the case, but on public reaction to them. This is exactly what happened to Ray Rice: “the imposition of the indefinite suspension was arbitrary,” Jones wrote, noting it only came after public criticism exploded.

Further reporting on the Rice case leads to two take-aways: that Goodell made almost no effort to discover the facts of the altercation prior to imposing the two-game ban, which is particularly odd because he has been an aggressive disciplinarian in the past; and that once he decided to pin blame on Rice for being misleading, he had almost no evidence to support his claim.

That is, both before and after the release of the elevator video, Goodell’s conduct was bafflingly amateurish.

ESPN’s Outside the Lines obtained a transcript of the Rice appeal, where evidence included emails between an NFL investigator and its security director in which the investigator says he never asked the Atlantic City police for a copy of the elevator tape. A day later, Goodell said on national TV that the league had sought the tape from relevant authorities but did not receive it. The appeal also heard that the NFL didn’t ask Rice’s lawyer for the tape, even though he had it as part of routine disclosure, ESPN reported.

After the elevator video became public, Goodell effectively called Rice a liar, banned him indefinitely, and set off the appeal process that has revealed the commissioner to not just be a farcical judge, but to be completely out of his depth. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

The commissioner said during the appeal, the report says, that although he had seen a folder of media clippings on the case before his June meeting with Rice, including one newspaper account that cited a casino source saying the video showed “he knocked her out with one punch,” the league didn’t know if it was accurate because the source wasn’t named.

Those uncertainties would seem like an excellent reason for Goodell to have ensured that his security staff get the tape: the NFL employs more than a dozen investigators, all of them formerly of law enforcement, who presumably could have handled the task. And, when Goodell met with Rice, he didn’t even ask him for the details of the assault.

Later, having left all kinds of stones unturned in his pursuit of the truth, Goodell falls back on the assertion that Rice had given him a “starkly different” version of the truth in their meeting. At the appeal, though, Jones found that the commissioner had no notes to this effect. His assertion that Rice had said he “slapped” his fiancée was diminished by the fact that his notes didn’t include the word “slapped.” Other witnesses, Rice included, said he told the commissioner that he “hit” her.

The arbitrator accepted that version of events. Goodell appears to have to gone through the appeal assuming that his word would be all that was needed. It was not.

The commissioner now has a new personal conduct policy at his disposal, one he says will be “clear, consistent, accountable and transparent.” The players’ union is skeptical. It is hard to fault them for that.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/scott-stinson-goodells-handling-of-rice-assault-was-bafflingly-amateurish/feed0Roger GoodellscottmstinsonRoger Goodell made almost no effort to discover the facts of the Ray Rice assault prior to imposing his initial two-game ban -- including not ensuring his security staff obtain the elevator video. (AP Photo/File)After the elevator video became public, Goodell effectively called Rice a liar, banned him indefinitely, and set off the appeal process that has revealed the commissioner to not just be a farcical judge, but to be completely out of his depth. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Scott Stinson: Voynov, Peterson suspensions show pro sports’ shift toward zero tolerancehttp://o.canada.com/sports/scott-stinson-voynov-peterson-suspensions-show-pro-sports-shift-toward-zero-tolerance
http://o.canada.com/sports/scott-stinson-voynov-peterson-suspensions-show-pro-sports-shift-toward-zero-tolerance#respondThu, 23 Oct 2014 02:27:39 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=533268]]>MINNEAPOLIS — Ask people around here about Adrian Peterson, and the response invariably contains some element of a grimace or a wince.

“You want to be mad at the NFL,” says Paul, a vendor at the Target Center arena, “but those photos …” He trails off and winces.

So it goes. Peterson, the Minnesota Vikings running back and 2012 NFL MVP, remains in limbo, on the league’s “exempt” list while his legal case — he is charged with felony child abuse — proceeds. His trial is set to begin on Dec. 1, though prosecutors seeking to have the judge removed were to make their arguments in a Texas court on Wednesday.

In the meantime, Peterson has been expunged from football proceedings. The Vikings are a miserable 2-5 after a last-second loss to Buffalo on Sunday, and the local paper ascribed the team’s shortcomings this season to inconsistent quarterback play, injuries and, almost as an afterthought, “the loss of Adrian Peterson.” On the wall of Hubert’s sports bar in the concourse of the Target Center, a framed Peterson jersey hangs next to those of other Minnesota sporting greats, Harmon Killebrew and the like. No one seems quite sure what to do about that just yet.

Just a few months ago, this process would have seemed unfathomable. Peterson has been charged with a serious crime, and he acknowledges the act of hitting his four-year-old with a wooden stick, leaving severe welts on his backside, but he also maintains that he was only disciplining his child in the same manner in which he was raised. This may seem like a ludicrous explanation, but corporal punishment is still allowed — in schools, even — in 19 U.S. states, and legal experts have said that a case like Peterson’s often ends in counselling and the threat of a more severe sanction if there is a subsequent similar offence. Such an outcome, then, might allow Peterson to resume his career, but only after the Vikings paid him about $14 million to sit out most or all of this season.

This, though, is the new reality of professional sports, a direct result of the NFL’s handling of the Ray Rice domestic abuse case, where the league plainly looked to excuse a star player’s behaviour until a leaked video made that position untenable. Now, the pendulum has swung the other way, and leagues are adopting zero-tolerance policies, as in the National Hockey League’s indefinite suspension of L.A. Kings defenceman Slava Voynov after he was arrested on suspicion of domestic abuse in California on Monday.

It is an uncertain new disciplinary world, and it is one that is fraught. The TMZ video of Rice knocking his then-fiancée unconscious has effectively torpedoed the notion of due process.

There are reasons to celebrate this advancement. On the issue of domestic violence in particular, the tendency has been for teams to keep players in the lineup while the legal process advanced, even as leagues were cracking down on, say, the use of amphetamines. The Rice case, with its graphic evidence of what domestic violence looks like, exposed the folly of that double standard.

How could a league drop the hammer on someone who imbibed a spiked drink while asking its fans to root for the guy who was accused of beating up his wife? Culturally, people who investigate domestic violence and counsel those involved will tell you, there remains a blind spot among some that this is a lesser crime that can be sorted out in private. It’s a perception that was reinforced whenever a high-profile athlete was given a conditional pass. Those days, as the Voynov case makes clear, are over.

It’s also true that pro athletes essentially sign away their rights to due process, thanks to language in collective bargaining agreements that allows the leagues to suspend them when there is a chance even their perceived actions would hurt the league’s interests. It might seem unfair, but it’s part of the deal.

Before the tape of his attack on his wife was made public, Ray Rice was suspended for just two games. He’s now banned indefinitely. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

The part that will be awkward, though, is what happens at the end of the legal process. Voynov might not be charged, as was Colorado Avalanche goalie Semyon Varlamov in a similar case last year. Rice had worked out a plea arrangement with prosecutors that required counselling and no further punishment. Is the expectation now that sports leagues are to conduct their own parallel investigations and mete out punishment over and above whatever the legal system decides?

If the price of a no-tolerance policy is that the occasional athlete misses games — with pay — while serious charges are investigated and ultimately dropped, that’s an acceptable outcome. It’s not ideal, but it’s hard to see such a thing becoming an epidemic.

But the Peterson issue is setting up as an example of a case where the legal outcome, and public expectation of the same, could be quite different. He could be cleared entirely, or sentenced to something that amounts to probation.

Would NFL commissioner Roger Goodell see that as the end of the punishment process for a player who, as yet, has not actually been suspended? Or would he hand down his own judgment, double jeopardy be damned? There are, after all, those photos of the wounds on a child.

On the grounds that once housed the Metrodome, the Vikings’ home stadium, workers are now erecting a new $1-billion facility, built with almost $500-million of public money. On the hoarding that surrounds the site, there are pictures of several players in action. Most prominent among them, in his No. 28 jersey, is Adrian Peterson.

More cause, that is, for wincing.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/scott-stinson-voynov-peterson-suspensions-show-pro-sports-shift-toward-zero-tolerance/feed0San Jose Sharks v Los Angeles Kings - Game OnescottmstinsonMinnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson's child abuse trial is set to begin on Dec. 1. (AP Photo/Houston Chronicle, Billy Smith II) Before the tape of his attack on his wife was made public, Ray Rice was suspended for just two games. He's now suspended indefinitely. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)Cam Cole: NHL owes debt of gratitude to TMZhttp://o.canada.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cam-cole-nhl-owes-debt-of-gratitude-to-tmz
http://o.canada.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cam-cole-nhl-owes-debt-of-gratitude-to-tmz#commentsTue, 21 Oct 2014 02:31:29 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=531872]]>A better test of the National Hockey League’s staunch commitment to fight domestic violence would be to see how it would have handled the Slava Voynov case before the Ray Rice video turned the sports investigation landscape on its ear.

Oh, wait. We already witnessed that.

It was the Semyon Varlamov affair, last year at this time. The Colorado Avalanche goalie was charged after his Russian girlfriend reported she had been beaten and kicked, and bruises noted by police responding to the incident were documented.

The NHL’s reaction, last Halloween?

“At this point,” said deputy commissioner Bill Daly in a statement, “we are monitoring the developing legal situation and do not intend to intervene in that process. There may come a point in time where we feel it is either necessary or appropriate to take a different approach, but that’s not where we are right now.”

Varlamov was released on US$5,000 bail, was not suspended, flew with the team, and played the next game.

A year later, it’s as though it was a figment of someone’s imagination. Nothing happened, the girlfriend was dismissed as a Russian quack hoping to extort money from the goalie, her testimony discredited. Prosecutors decided they didn’t have enough evidence to proceed, and the matter was dropped.

Varlamov was exonerated, which effectively closed the file on NHL domestic abuse. And that loud whooshing sound New Yorkers heard along Avenue of the Americas was the sigh of relief coming from the NHL offices when the case didn’t go to court.

Cut to Monday morning. Redondo Beach police were called to a hospital where a woman had been admitted with “alarming” injuries indicative enough of domestic violence that Voynov, the Los Angeles Kings’ 24-year-old defenceman (who was present at the hospital), was arrested under California Penal Code 273.5, which covers a whole range of domestic crimes.

He has not yet been charged.

Before news had even broken in L.A., the NHL released a statement announcing it had suspended Voynov, with pay, under Section 18-A. 5 of the CBA, which states the league may suspend a player when “failure to do so would create a substantial risk of material harm to the legitimate interests and/or reputation of the League.”

No due process required, this time. No “innocent until proven guilty” benefit of the doubt.

So, before we all heap praise on the NHL for its swift and decisive action, we should probably consider who or what precipitated this 180-degree turnabout.

The answer is, of course, Ray Rice. In a twisted sort of way, we should all be grateful to TMZ, the celebrity muckraking website/TV show, for its role in exposing the National Football League’s shocking inaction after the Baltimore Ravens running back clocked his then-fiancée, knocking her out cold, in that casino elevator.

It tilted the sports world off its axis, and it may never be quite the same again.

When the child-injury revelations about Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson emerged on the heels of the graphic Rice footage, the NFL was placed under a high-powered microscope, and the fallout was vastly more far-reaching than just a couple of cannon shots amidships to pro football’s leviathan.

Subsequent investigations by journalists shed light on the role of teams’ security departments in cover-ups and silencing victims through intimidation, and revealed cosy arrangements between teams and friendly members of local police forces, who provide yet another layer of insulation between the perpetrators and formal charges.

Those practices, too, are being scrutinized as never before.

So now, when awareness is at an all-time high and everybody is in butt-covering mode, is the worst possible time to cross the line.

This is the hornet’s nest Voynov brought down on himself late Sunday night. That’s not to say he’s guilty, and Varlamov was not prosecuted, so that’s that.

But all the stones will be turned over this time. The NHL needs that to happen. It needs, Gary Bettman needs, to be perceived as having learned from the NFL/Roger Goodell mess.

Last month at a luncheon in Toronto, Bettman foreshadowed the league’s heightened awareness of its responsibility.

“Whenever that phone rings, and sometimes it does at two in the morning, you’ve got to respond and you’ve got to have your A-game, otherwise you’re liable to make a mistake, and when you make a mistake in this position, it gets magnified,” he said. “And it doesn’t matter if you’re right 99 out of 100 times, which is a pretty good batting record, it’s that one that you’ll have to live with and deal with.”

Slava Voynov is free on a $50,000 bond and cannot practice or play or be around the team for an as-yet unspecified period.

His court date is Dec. 1.

Until something is resolved, the defending champions lose their No. 2 defenceman, to whom they committed US$25 million over six years last season, a guy who’s been on both Stanley Cup teams … and they haven’t uttered a peep of complaint.

The club’s statement: “These developments are of great concern to our organization. We support the NHL’s decision to suspend Slava Voynov indefinitely during this process, and we will continue to take appropriate action as the legal proceedings and the investigation by the NHL take their course.”

The cloak of invisibility is gone, and they’ve all been rattled by it. Nothing more noble than that should be inferred.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/hockey/nhl/cam-cole-nhl-owes-debt-of-gratitude-to-tmz/feed1Kings Voynov Suspended HockeycamcolecanadacomNFL commissioner Roger Goodell breaks silence, says ‘same mistakes can never be repeated’http://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/nfl-announces-partnership-with-domestic-violence-hotline
Fri, 19 Sep 2014 14:17:51 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=516491]]>NEW YORK — More defiant than contrite, Roger Goodell announced no sweeping changes in his first public statements in more than a week of turmoil surrounding the NFL’s handling of players accused of crimes.

The commissioner was definitive about one thing: He has not considered resigning.

Goodell was short on specifics Friday as he discussed how he would address the rash of domestic violence incidents in the league. He said the NFL wants to implement new personal conduct policies by the Super Bowl.

“Unfortunately, over the past several weeks, we have seen all too much of the NFL doing wrong,” he said in his opening statement. “That starts with me.”

The league has faced increasing criticism that it has not acted quickly or emphatically enough. The commissioner reiterated that he botched the handling of the Ray Rice case.

“The same mistakes can never be repeated,” he said.

Goodell said he would meet with NFL Players Association chief DeMaurice Smith next week, and they would work with outside experts to evaluate the league’s policies.

Among the areas that will be examined is Goodell’s role in discipline. The commissioner now oversees all personal conduct cases, deciding guilt and penalties.

He will establish a committee to review NFL personal conduct, seeking experts in the area of domestic abuse and violence to serve on it. Goodell’s role with such a committee was not directly addressed.

“Nothing is off the table,” he said.

One of the key questions is how to balance the league’s desire to take a stance against violent acts with the due process requirements — and the sometimes slow pace — of the legal system. Goodell indicated the league is considering becoming “engaged” in the investigation process while law enforcement is still handling its probes.

Goodell said he believes he has the support of the NFL’s owners, his bosses.

“That has been clear to me,” he said.

The commissioner and some NFL teams have been heavily criticized for lenient or delayed punishment of Rice, Adrian Peterson and other players involved in recent domestic violence cases. Less than three weeks into the season, five such cases have made headlines.

Vikings star running back Peterson and Carolina defensive end Greg Hardy are on a special commissioner’s exemption list and are being paid while they go through the legal process. Arizona running back Jonathan Dwyer was placed on the reserve/non-football illness list, meaning he can’t play for the team again this season. Ray McDonald, a defensive end for San Francisco, continues to practice and play while being investigated on suspicion of domestic violence.

Groups such as the National Organization of Women and league partners and sponsors have come down hard on the NFL to be more responsive in dealing with them. Congress also is watching to see how the NFL reacts.

NOW President Terry O’Neill reiterated her calls for Goodell to resign.

“NFL Commissioner, Roger Goodell today did nothing to increase confidence in his ability to lead the NFL out of its morass,” O’Neill said in a statement. “What Mr. Goodell doesn’t seem to understand is that he should be aiming to make fundamental changes in the organization.”

Rice was initially suspended for two games. Goodell admitted more than a month later that he “didn’t get it right” and announced tougher penalties for future domestic violent incidents.

After video emerged of the assault, the Baltimore Ravens cut the star running back and the league banned him indefinitely.

A worker folds up a former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice jersey that a fan traded in. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Goodell reiterated Friday that he didn’t believe anybody at the NFL had seen the video before it was published by TMZ. The Associated Press reported last week that a law enforcement official says he sent the video to a league executive five months ago.

Citing Rice’s appeal of his suspension, Goodell declined to specify Friday how the player’s description of what happened was “inconsistent” with what the video showed — the commissioner’s reason for changing his punishment.

The NFL asked former FBI director Robert Mueller to conduct an investigation into the league’s handling of the Rice case. The law firm where Mueller is now a partner, WilmerHale, has connections to the NFL. Goodell insisted Friday that it wasn’t a conflict of interest because Mueller himself has not previously worked with the league.

Goodell acknowledged he has learned that interviewing Rice and his now-wife together is an inappropriate way to handle a domestic violence case.

The commissioner declined to address whether any women were involved in the decision to suspend Rice for two games, but conceded that’s “exactly what we’re concerned about.”

The NFL has since added domestic violence experts as consultants. It also announced it is partnering with a domestic violence hotline and a sexual violence resource centre.

In a memo to the clubs late Thursday, Goodell said that within the next 30 days, all NFL and team personnel will participate in education sessions on domestic violence and sexual assault.

The league will provide financial, operational and promotional support to the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.

]]>Roger-Goodell.jpgtheassociatedpresscanadaNFL Commissioner Roger Goodell speaks during a news conference Friday, Sept. 19, 2014, in New York. Goodell says the NFL wants to implement new personal conduct policies by the Super Bowl. The league has faced increasing criticism that it has not acted quickly or emphatically enough concerning the domestic abuse cases. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow)A worker folds up a former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice jersey that a fan traded in. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)Cam Cole: Star athletes consistently dodge justicehttp://o.canada.com/sports/cam-cole-star-athletes-consistently-dodge-justice
http://o.canada.com/sports/cam-cole-star-athletes-consistently-dodge-justice#respondFri, 12 Sep 2014 21:55:15 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=513256]]>“Justice? You get justice in the next world. In this one you have the law.”

― William Gaddis, American novelist.

On the same day that a South African judge rendered her verdict in that nation’s version of the O.J. Simpson trial, finding double-amputee Paralympics hero Oscar Pistorius not guilty of premeditated murder, the National Football League’s own website published new, stomach-turning details of yet more incidents of domestic violence involving a Baltimore Ravens football player.

Coming only a few days after video of Ravens running back Ray Rice cold-cocking his then fiancée in an Atlantic City elevator was released by TMZ, the allegations against Baltimore linebacker Terrell Suggs, reported on NFL.com, are certain to prompt anyone with a sense of fairness to ask: “What the hell is going on with the American justice system?”

It is, as Gaddis suggests in the above quote, the wrong question.

“Justice system” is a misnomer, and it’s hardly restricted to the United States.

In separate incidents, Terrell Suggs allegedly dragged his girlfriend alongside a car and threatened to drown her with bleach. The Baltimore Ravens linebacker has never been charged. (Gail Burton/AP)

It is, at a certain level of notoriety, a political/economic system, susceptible to all kinds of external forces that have very little to do with actual justice.

It favours the wealthy, the famous, the connected, the ones who can afford a long, drawn-out trial and a crafty defence team, or the lucky ones whose very fame — especially, it seems, when they are sports stars -— causes judges and juries, league executives and team officials to fawn and equivocate and work very hard to find ways to excuse their actions.

Or in the cases of Ray Rice and Terrell Suggs, to pretend not to see what is right before their eyes.

Sadly (I say, as a chronicler of sports), to be a standout in the world of sports is to have a healthy down-payment on a get-out-of-jail-free card. Or even better: a Do Not Disturb card.

“According to the domestic complaint obtained Friday by The Baltimore Sun, Suggs’ longtime girlfriend, Candace Williams, claimed the All-Pro punched her in the neck and dragged her alongside a speeding car with their two children in the vehicle. The woman said she suffered ‘severe road rash’ as a result of the incident.

“As is standard protocol in the wake of a complaint of this nature, Suggs was ordered to turn over any firearms in his possession. The Sun reported he turned over seven guns. WBAL-TV reported Suggs surrendered nine.

“Suggs does not face criminal charges stemming from the September (2012) incident.”

Williams has filed for two restraining orders against Suggs in the past five years, one of them after he allegedly knocked her to the ground, kicked her in the face, breaking her nose, and sat on top of her, grabbing her by the throat, holding an open bottle of bleach over her, threatening to drown her with it, and spilling some on her and the couple’s son.

The only reason Ray Rice didn’t also skate away from his abuse case unscathed? His attack was caught on video.(Nick Wass/AP)

They were married shortly after the second incident, much as Rice’s victim, Janay Palmer, married Rice soon after the elevator assault.

Suggs was named NFL defensive player of the year for 2011. Rice was the team’s star running back.

Another Ravens defensive player of the year from earlier days, Ray Lewis, walked away from a murder charge after a double homicide outside an Atlanta nightclub in 2000, in exchange for testifying against two other men. A blood-spattered suit said to have been worn by Lewis that night was never recovered.

Do you sense a pattern here? From law enforcement to prosecution, is there any way to interpret the above examples — or the kid-gloves treatment of Rice at every level, until the damning video evidence was too graphic for even the disingenuous NFL to sweep under the carpet — as anything but shielding the great American god, Football?

The only reason Rice didn’t also skate away unscathed is that his attack was caught on video, which the NFL has turned itself into an ever-growing knot claiming never to have seen, though evidence to the contrary is piling up at the door of commissioner Roger Goodell.

Suggs’ alleged assaults were not captured on tape. He did not admit wrongdoing and was not charged.

Oscar Pistorius was convicted for ‘culpable homicide’ rather than murder on Friday. (Siphiwe Sibeko/AP)

Similarly, there is nothing on video to clear up what really happened the night Pistorius opened up with a handgun through the locked door of a bathroom, killing his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp, on Feb. 14, 2013.

Witnesses to a woman’s scream were discredited. Evidence, necessarily circumstantial, was never tied up quite strongly enough by the prosecution to keep the defence team — O.J., redux — from poking little holes in it.

Enough holes to let a South African judge find room to let a gun-happy national sports hero off the hook for murder, and reduce the conviction to “culpable homicide.”

For the victims, justice may or may not come in the next world. Here on earth, we have the law.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/cam-cole-star-athletes-consistently-dodge-justice/feed0Baltimore Ravens Super Bowl XLVII Media AvailabilitycamcolecanadacomIn separate incidents, Baltimore Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs allegedly dragged his girlfriend alongside a car and threatened to drown her with bleach. (Gail Burton/AP) The only reason Ray Rice didn’t also skate away unscathed? His attack was caught on video. (Nick Wass/AP) Oscar Pistorius was convicted for 'culpable homicide' rather than murder on Friday. (Siphiwe Sibeko/AP)NFL sent video of Ray Rice punching fiancee in April, says police officialhttp://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/nfl-sent-video-of-ray-rice-punching-fiancee-three-months-ago-says-police-official
Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:03:14 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=512076]]>ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — A law enforcement official says he sent a video of Ray Rice punching his then-fiancee to an NFL executive three months ago, while league officers have insisted they didn’t see the violent images until this week.

The person played The Associated Press a 12-second voicemail from an NFL office number on April 9 confirming the video arrived. A female voice expresses thanks and says: “You’re right. It’s terrible.”

Hours after the report Wednesday, Goodell announced former FBI director Robert S. Mueller III will conduct a probe into how the league pursued and handled evidence as it investigated claims against Rice.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in a statement that the investigation will be overseen by owners John Mara of the New York Giants and Art Rooney of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Goodell said that Mueller will have access to all NFL records and will have full co-operation from league personnel.

The law enforcement official, speaking to the AP on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, says he had no further communication with any NFL employee and can’t confirm anyone watched the video. The person said they were unauthorized to release the video but shared it unsolicited, because they wanted the NFL to have it before deciding on Rice’s punishment.

In this still image taken from a hotel security video released by TMZ Sports, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punches his fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in February 2014. (AP Photo)

The NFL has repeatedly said it asked for but could not obtain the video of Rice hitting Janay Palmer — who is now his wife — at an Atlantic City casino in February.

The league says it has no record of the video, and no one in the league office had seen it until TMZ released it. When asked about the voicemail Wednesday, NFL officials repeated their assertion that no league official had seen the video before Monday.

“We have no knowledge of this,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy said Wednesday. “We are not aware of anyone in our office who possessed or saw the video before it was made public on Monday. We will look into it.”

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who was supposed to attend an award ceremony for Panthers owner Jerry Richardson in Charlotte, N.C., Wednesday night, did not attend the event and instead headed back to New York.

The law enforcement official said he sent a DVD copy of the security camera video to an NFL office and included his contact information. He asked the AP not to release the name of the NFL executive for fear that the information would identify the law enforcement official as the source.

The person said he sent a DVD copy of the security camera video to an NFL office and included his contact information. He asked the AP not to release the name of the NFL executive, for fear that the information would identify the law enforcement official as the source.

Goodell initially suspended Rice for two games following the February incident, but the Ravens released Rice on Monday and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after the website TMZ released the video.

Goodell told CBS on Tuesday that “no one in the NFL, to my knowledge” had seen a new video of what happened on the elevator until it was posted online.

“We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity,” Goodell said.

In a memo to the NFL’s 32 teams on Wednesday, Goodell said that the league asked law enforcement for the video, but not the casino. “In the context of a criminal investigation, information obtained outside of law enforcement that has not been tested by prosecutors or by the court system is not necessarily a reliable basis for imposing league discipline,” he wrote.

The video, shown to the AP on Monday, is slightly longer than the TMZ version, and includes some audio.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell initially suspended Ray Rice for two games following the February incident, but the Ravens released Rice on Monday and the NFL suspended him indefinitely after the website TMZ released the video. (John Raoux/AP)

Rice and Janay Palmer — now Janay Rice — can be heard shouting obscenities at each other, and she appears to spit at Rice right before he throws a brutal punch. After she collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, “She’s drunk, right?” And then, “No cops.”

Rice had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record. A prominent New Jersey lawmaker called Tuesday for that decision to be reviewed.

Hours after portions of the video were made public by TMZ, Goodell suspended Rice indefinitely and Baltimore terminated his contract. He had originally been suspended for two games, and team officials had praised him for his apologies and actions after his arrest for aggravated assault.

Goodell and team officials said they were taking more severe action because of the violence in the video.

]]>Ray Rice, Janay RicetheassociatedpresscanadaIn this still image taken from a hotel security video released by TMZ Sports, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punches his fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in February 2014. The Ravens terminated their contract with Rice Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, hours after the video surfaced on TMZ's website, and he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. (AP Photo)In this March 25, 2014 photo, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell answers questions during a news conference at the NFL football annual meeting in Orlando, Fla. (John Raoux/AP)Goodell says no one at NFL saw Rice video until this weekhttp://o.canada.com/sports/goodell-says-no-one-at-nfl-saw-rice-video-until-this-week
Wed, 10 Sep 2014 00:09:03 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=511598]]>ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — As questions arose about how the NFL investigated domestic violence allegations against Ray Rice, Commissioner Roger Goodell said Tuesday the league asked for, but was not given, video showing the ex-Ravens running back punching his then-fiancee on an elevator.

Goodell told CBS that “no one in the NFL, to my knowledge” had seen a new video of what happened on the elevator until it was posted online.

“We assumed that there was a video. We asked for video. But we were never granted that opportunity,” Goodell said.

Two videos, one released by TMZ Sports and another shown later to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official, show Rice punching Janay Palmer — who is now his wife — at an Atlantic City casino in February. They are graphic, and show more detail than an initial video released by TMZ in July that showed him dragging her from an elevator.

After the latest TMZ video made its way around the Internet, the Ravens cut Rice and the league barred him indefinitely. But the video renewed criticism about the NFL’s decision to initially suspend Rice for just two games, and raised questions about how strenuously the case was investigated.
Goodell has previously said he “didn’t get it right” with Rice and the league set up new penalties for domestic violence: a six-game suspension for a first offence, at least a year for a second.

“I would tell you that what we saw in the first videotape was troubling to us, in and of itself,” Goodell said. “But what we saw yesterday was extremely clear, is extremely graphic, and it was sickening. And that’s why we took the action we took yesterday.”

In the videos that surfaced Monday, Rice and Palmer are seen hitting each other before he knocks her off her feet and into a railing.

The higher-quality video shown to the AP shows Rice made no attempt to cover up what happened. After Palmer collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. Someone is heard saying, “She’s drunk, right?” And then, “No cops.” Rice didn’t respond.

The video was shown to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official wasn’t authorized to release it.

Palmer defended her husband on her Instagram account Tuesday, saying that barring Rice from playing football is “horrific” and that making the couple “relive a moment in our lives that we regret every day is a horrible thing.”

Ravens coach John Harbaugh said he met with owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome after they saw the TMZ video, and they made the decision to let Rice go.

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said the team saw the Ray Rice video for the first time on Monday. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

The action represented a complete reversal for the team, which had initially supported Rice. Rice had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record. A prominent New Jersey lawmaker called Tuesday for that decision to be reviewed.

In a letter to fans, Bisciotti said the team should have done more to get the video as the investigation continued, and it was a “mistake” not to. He said the team tried to get the video from both the casino and law enforcement, but the casino wouldn’t share it and that authorities refused. It is common for law enforcement to decline to release evidence when an investigation is ongoing.

“We should have seen it earlier. We should have pursued our own investigation more vigorously,” the letter said. “We didn’t and we were wrong.”

Rice, 27, has not spoken publicly since the team cut him, and his lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, declined to comment when contacted by the AP.

Rice stood to make $4 million this year. In addition to his salary, he’ll also lose income from cancelled endorsement deals. Nike announced it has severed its business ties with him, and video game publisher Electronic Arts said it would scrub Rice’s image from their latest Madden ’15 release.

In his last public statement this summer, he expressed regret: “I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.”

]]>Roger-Goodell.jpgtheassociatedpresscanadaBaltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said the team saw the Ray Rice video for the first time on Monday. (Patrick Semansky/AP)NFL, craven Baltimore Ravens should be shamed by Ray Rice domestic assaulthttp://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-craven-baltimore-ravens-should-be-shamed-by-ray-rice-domestic-assault
http://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-craven-baltimore-ravens-should-be-shamed-by-ray-rice-domestic-assault#respondTue, 09 Sep 2014 12:16:51 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=511051]]>The assault occurred seven months ago, in an elevator of a casino in Atlantic City.

A casino. In Atlantic City.

Visibility: very high. Chances of not being caught on surveillance camera when you put your fiancee’s lights out with a left hook: very slim.

If it had been Joe Public assaulting Mrs. Public, or Joe knocking his girlfriend or mistress, or pretty much any other female member of the human race, out cold, the police would have had the CCTV video within five minutes of opening the investigation.

Open-and-shut case.

Joe would have got whatever sentence there is for aggravated assault in New Jersey, and his boss — in whatever trade he plied for a living — would have fired him, because the time when a boss could look the other way on a guy punching out his fiancee and being caught on camera is long past.

He says/she says is one thing. Video doesn’t lie.

That’s what would happen in the civilized world.

It is not what happened in the case of Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice when he got in a heated argument with his then-fiancee, Janay Palmer, on the way into an elevator on Feb. 15, then KO’d her with a punch to the head.

To understand what did happen, you have to understand the public relations power, and influence, and the almost unbelievable tone-deafness of one of the most intimidating sports leagues in the world.

Until TMZ leaked the surveillance tape Monday morning, that is.

After that, the National Football League was in full backpedalling mode, as were the craven Ravens, who no doubt were shocked — shocked! — by the contents of the video they claimed never to have seen, and promptly cut the star running back a few hours after the video appeared on the web.

Honesty? You can decide. But the fact that seven months after the incident, the NFL also claimed never to have seen the video — three-plus minutes of graphic, disturbing hotel tape — suggests that either the league is lying, or it just didn’t try very hard to find out everything there was to learn about the assault.

Then again, Baltimore is the same NFL club whose greatest-ever player is a former linebacker, Ray Lewis, who walked away under murky circumstances from a double murder outside an Atlanta nightclub in 2000. Lewis is now an NFL TV commentator because, you know, he was really good.

Rice is, or was, really good, too, and makes, or made, a lot of money. A month after he punched out Janay Palmer, she married him. Don’t ask. It’s what some battered women do, sadly.

He pleaded not guilty to third-degree aggravated assault, even though the incriminating video was plainly available, and elected something called “pre-trial intervention” which meant he wouldn’t have to go to jail as long as he behaved himself. Tough, those New Jersey courts.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who hands out year-long suspensions to players caught with marijuana or human growth hormone, six-game suspensions for having taken money while playing college football, thought two games for Ray Rice was about right.

After all, as the Ravens’ Twitter account wrote: “Janay Rice says she deeply regrets the role that she played the night of the incident.”

Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh speaks at a news conference after practice at the team’s headquarters Sept. 8, 2014, in Owings Mills, Md. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

The role she played? It appears to be as follows: walks angrily into elevator, followed by Rice, who takes a swing at her. She comes back at him, raises a hand and he cold-cocks her. She hits her head on the handrail on the way down and lies motionless on the floor when the door opens. End of role.

Rice drags her, face down, her skirt up around her hips, out of the elevator by the arms, drops her like a sack of potatoes with her legs still partway in the elevator, casually pokes at them with his foot. He looks down at her, finally makes a move to try to drag her the rest of the way out when a hotel employee appears. Yet even when a crowd begins to gather, and you would think he would have to feign concern, it is still someone else altogether who finally helps her to her feet after she regains consciousness.

Now her role resumes. He reaches for her twice, she swats his hand away. The video ends.

What part of her role do you suppose she regrets. Not bouncing high enough?

Ray Rice didn’t get any jail time.

Roger Goodell, who makes $44.2 million a year, suspended him two games and fined him $58,000 plus one additional game cheque for actions “inconsistent with league policies and standard of behaviour.” Brave Roger. Protector of the shield.

This time, though, Goodell has dropped the ball utterly, and no bagful of money is going to buy the NFL’s way out of it.

A few NFL players voiced their opinions on Goodell’s leniency at the time. But it’s bad politics to dump on the boss.

The video, though, changes everything. This time, the outrage from players — most of them retired, but a few active — is unmistakable. They are ashamed, and angry, at the league’s inaction until its hand was forced.

And now that the video is public and the league and the club can’t claim to have never seen it, the NFL faces an even worse crisis of confidence than when its fallen warriors began to turn up with brain deterioration.

The repeated-concussion revelations, the chronic brain disease believed to be linked to them, the idea that young brains of Pop Warner and high school kids might be particularly vulnerable, was handled by a big lump sum of money paid out to the sufferers who sued, and a lot of lip service about the league’s deep concern for its players — and a public-relations offensive in which “features” suddenly began to appear spotlighting women and moms and warm-fuzzy football families.

This time, though, Goodell has dropped the ball utterly, and no bagful of money is going to buy the NFL’s way out of it. Rice’s belated “indefinite suspension” is so obviously an attempt to minimize the damage, no one but a hopelessly devoted, see-no-evil fan could miss discerning the NFL’s true attitude toward battered women.

Fortunately, the league has tens of millions of True Believers.

Look, the NFL is no different from any professional sport that values players’ performance over their character. Which is all of them. The Halls of Fame are full of violent people.

In almost any team game you could name, a disproportionate number of nice guys on any club probably would finish last.

But at least, for once, we have had a first-hand look at where the line is drawn. The light has been shone on the very definition of unacceptable behaviour, even in a league peopled by big, over-muscled hormone cases.

It took TMZ, a web and TV enterprise specializing in celebrity sleaze, to be the conscience of the NFL, because left to its own devices, the league clearly wouldn’t have one.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-craven-baltimore-ravens-should-be-shamed-by-ray-rice-domestic-assault/feed0Ian Katz, Abby HoppercamcolecanadacomBaltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh speaks at a news conference after practice at the team's headquarters Sept. 8, 2014, in Owings Mills, Md. (Patrick Semansky/AP)Longer version of Ray Rice video shows couple screaming, spitting and ‘She’s drunk, right?’http://o.canada.com/sports/football/nfl-sports/longer-version-of-ray-rice-video-shows-couple-screaming-spitting-and-shes-drunk-right
Tue, 09 Sep 2014 14:42:48 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=511165]]>ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Ray Rice and Janay Palmer can be heard shouting obscenities at each other, and she appears to spit in the face of the three-time Pro Bowl running back right before he throws a brutal punch in a video shown to The Associated Press by a law enforcement official.

The video, shown to the AP Monday night, includes audio and is longer than the grainy TMZ Sports video released earlier that day. After the TMZ video made its way around the Internet, the Baltimore Ravens cut Rice and the league suspended him indefinitely. Rice was originally suspended for two games and coaches and others had praised his behaviour since the arrest for striking his then-fiancee in February.

The videos show Rice and Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. Months ago, a TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed on Sept. 2.

The higher-quality video shown to the AP shows Rice made no attempt to cover up the incident. After Palmer collapses, he drags her out of the elevator and is met by some hotel staff. One of them can be heard saying, “She’s drunk, right?” And then, “No cops.” But Rice didn’t respond.

The video was shown to the AP on condition of anonymity because the official isn’t authorized to release it.

Coach John Harbaugh said he met with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, team president Dick Cass and general manager Ozzie Newsome after they saw the TMZ video, and they made the decision to let Rice go.

In this still image taken from a hotel security video released by TMZ Sports, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punches his fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in February 2014. The Ravens terminated their contract with Rice Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, hours after the video surfaced on TMZ’s website, and he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. (AP Photo)

“It’s something we saw for the first time today, all of us,” Harbaugh said. “It changed things, of course. It made things a little bit different.”

The action represented a complete reversal for the team, even though an Atlantic City police summons stated that Rice caused “bodily injury to Janay Palmer, specifically by striking her with his hand, rendering her unconscious.”

The Ravens had used words like “respect” and “proud” in referring to Rice following his arrest.

When the NFL announced Rice’s two-game suspension for domestic violence on July 24, Newsome said: “We respect the efforts Ray has made to become the best partner and father he can be. That night was not typical of the Ray Rice we know and respect. We believe that he will not let that one night define who he is, and he is determined to make sure something like this never happens again.

The Baltimore Ravens will offer an exchange for Ray Rice jerseys at stadium stores. Details to come.

Asked Monday night if Rice misled him, Harbaugh said he didn’t want to get into “all that.”

“I don’t think of it that way. Everything I said in terms of what I believe, I stand by,” he said. “I believe that still, and I’ll always believe those things, and (we’ll) always stand in support of them as a couple, and that’s not going to change.”

Rice said in a news conference this summer that his actions that night were “inexcusable.” But the Ravens never took action against him until after the second video was released.

The NFL, which has been working hard to promote the game to women, also took action after the explicit video was released. Commissioner Roger Goodell announced that, based on the new video evidence, Rice has been suspended indefinitely.

“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday morning. “That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”

Rice’s lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

“Obviously, any video that depicts an act of violence in that video is disturbing to watch. For our union, we have an unshakable position against any violence, certainly domestic violence included,” NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said at the Seahawks’ facility in Renton, Washington. “It will be a time for us now to catch up with everything else that has occurred today.”

He had been charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pretrial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record.

Roger Goodell wrote a letter to all 32 NFL owners in August saying he “didn’t get it right” with the Ray Rice suspension. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

After Goodell drew criticism not being tough enough on Rice, he wrote a letter to all 32 NFL owners in August saying he “didn’t get it right.”

First-time offenders now face a six-game suspension.

Rice began his suspension Sunday, when the Ravens opened their season with a 23-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was scheduled to return after Thursday night’s game against Pittsburgh.

He leaves the Ravens as the second-leading rusher in franchise history, behind only Jamal Lewis. A three-time Pro Bowl selection, Rice is the team’s career leader in total yards from scrimmage (9,214) and is the only player in Ravens history to rush for 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons.

Ray Rice’s actions in that elevator shed a new light on him. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)

But those are mere numbers, and his actions in that elevator shed a new light on him.

“I’m not going to go into what he told us or anything or if it matches or if it doesn’t,” Ravens receiver Torrey Smith said. “That doesn’t matter. What matters is what you see. It wasn’t a pleasant sight at all.”

Rice hasn’t spoken often to the media since his arrest, but on July 31 he said this is “something I have to live with the rest of my life.”

He added: “I know that’s not who I am as a man. … I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.”

]]>Ray-Rice-Janay-Rice.jpgtheassociatedpresscanadaIn this still image taken from a hotel security video released by TMZ Sports, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice punches his fiancee, Janay Palmer, in an elevator at the Revel casino in Atlantic City, N.J., in February 2014. The Ravens terminated their contract with Rice Monday, Sept. 8, 2014, hours after the video surfaced on TMZ's website, and he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL. (AP Photo)The NFL and commissioner Roger Goodell's proposal that penalties be handed out before the legal process has been exhausted has been met with strong opposition from the players. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)In this Aug. 16, 2014, photo, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice (27) carries during an NFL preseason football game against the Dallas Cowboys in Arlington, Texas. Ravens running back Ray Rice is sitting out two games for domestic violence. A positive marijuana test, meanwhile, means Browns wide receiver Josh Gordon will miss a full year. (AP Photo/Brandon Wade)Baltimore Ravens’ Ray Rice cut after new video released by TMZ shows punch from inside Atlantic City elevatorhttp://o.canada.com/sports/new-video-released-by-tmz-shows-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-punch-from-inside-atlantic-city-elevator
http://o.canada.com/sports/new-video-released-by-tmz-shows-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-punch-from-inside-atlantic-city-elevator#commentsMon, 08 Sep 2014 12:57:40 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=510544]]>BALTIMORE — Ray Rice was let go by the Baltimore Ravens on Monday and suspended indefinitely by the NFL after a video was released that appears to show the running back striking his then-fiancee in February.
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The grainy video, released by TMZ Sports, apparently shows Rice and Janay Palmer in an elevator at an Atlantic City casino. Each hits the other before Rice knocks Palmer off her feet and into a railing. An earlier TMZ video showed Rice dragging Palmer, now his wife, from the elevator at the Revel casino, which closed Sept. 2.

The Ravens said earlier Monday that they never saw the new video. Hours later, they sent out a one-sentence release:

The NFL suspended Rice for two games in July for domestic violence, a punishment at the time that received widespread criticism in different circles.

“We requested from law enforcement any and all information about the incident, including the video from inside the elevator,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Monday morning. “That video was not made available to us and no one in our office has seen it until today.”

Pro sports teams don't give a damn about doing the right thing until they know they'll look bad for doing the wrong thing.

Goodell indicated as much on Aug. 1 when during the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction weekend.

“When we’re going through the process of evaluating the issue and whether there will be discipline, you look at all of the facts that you have available to us,” Goodell said. “Law enforcement normally has more . . . information, facts, than we have. We’ll get as much as we possibly can.”

Rice’s lawyer, Michael Diamondstein, declined to comment when contacted by The Associated Press.

The 27-year-old Rice was charged with felony aggravated assault in the case, but in May he was accepted into a pre-trial intervention program that allowed him to avoid jail time and could lead to the charge being purged from his record.

In this May 23, 2014 photo, Janay Rice looks on as her husband, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, speaks to the media during an news conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Patrick Semansky/AP)

After Goodell drew criticism not being tough enough on Rice, in a letter to all 32 NFL owners in August he wrote, “My disciplinary decision led the public to question our sincerity, our commitment, and whether we understood the toll that domestic violence inflicts on so many families. I take responsibility both for the decision and for ensuring that our actions in the future properly reflect our values.”

“I didn’t get it right,” he added. “Simply put, we have to do better. And we will.”

First-time offenders now face a six-game suspension.

Rice began his suspension Sunday, when the Ravens opened their season with a 23-16 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. He was scheduled to return after Thursday night’s game against Pittsburgh. According to the terms of his suspension, Rice could not be with the team and must work out alone.

She must have used some pretty inflammatory words to deserve those punches. Two freaking games. Criminal act. Go sit in the corner.

Added Steelers cornerback William Gay: “We’re talking about a life, I don’t care about a sport when it comes down to domestic violence. This is real.”

Gay says the league needs to “come together and help Ray Rice or anyone that’s in that situation.”

Rice hasn’t spoken often to the media since his arrest, but on July 31 called his actions “inexcusable” and said this is “something I have to live with the rest of my life.”

He added: “I know that’s not who I am as a man. That’s not who my mom raised me to be. If anybody knows me, they know I was raised by a single parent, and that was my mother. I let her down, I let my wife down, I let my daughter down. I let my wife’s parents down. I let the whole Baltimore community down. I let my teammates down. I let so many people down because of 30 seconds of my life that I know I can’t take back.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/new-video-released-by-tmz-shows-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-punch-from-inside-atlantic-city-elevator/feed1Ray Rice, Janay RicetheassociatedpresscanadaIn this May 23, 2014 photo, Janay Rice looks on as her husband, Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice, speaks to the media during an news conference in Owings Mills, Md. (Patrick Semansky/AP)NFL suspends Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice for two gameshttp://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-set-to-suspend-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-for-two-games-reports
http://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-set-to-suspend-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-for-two-games-reports#respondThu, 24 Jul 2014 14:40:34 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=489657]]>After video surfaced of Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice allegedly assaulting his soon-to-be wife Janay Palmer (now Rice), the NFL took a long time to chime in with a verdict.

Meanwhile, the couple were married on March 28. The court case stemming from the incident resulted in Rice entering a diversion program, which could result in the assault charges being fully dropped.

Rice will miss the season opener against AFC North champion Cincinnati on Sept. 7 and the Sept. 11 game on Thursday night against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Rice has played six years for the Ravens. He is the team’s career leader in total scrimmage yards and ranks behind only Jamal Lewis in total yards rushing. Bernard Pierce is expected to start for Rice in Baltimore’s first two games.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/nfl-set-to-suspend-baltimore-ravens-ray-rice-for-two-games-reports/feed0Ray Rice, Joe FlaccojohndujayRadio star Casey Kasem’s remains sent to Montreal, funeral home confirmshttp://o.canada.com/news/radio-star-casey-kasems-remains-sent-to-montreal-487122
Sun, 20 Jul 2014 13:00:54 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=487122]]>SEATTLE — The head of a Washington state funeral home that had initial responsibility for radio personality Casey Kasem says he personally made sure his remains were put on a flight to Montreal last Monday.

Corey Gaffney, the president of Gaffney Funeral Home of Tacoma, says he confirmed the remains arrived in Montreal and media reports suggesting they have disappeared are not true.

Some U.S. media outlets quoted Kasem’s daughter Kerri as saying her father’s remains were missing.

In the months before his death June 15, Kasem’s daughter has been embroiled in a battle with his wife of the past 34 years, Jean Kasem, over the welfare of the legendary radio star.

A death certificate filed in a Washington State court July 15 listed Montreal funeral home Urgel Bourgie as the place of disposition, and July 14 as the date of disposition.

The Montreal funeral home told The Canadian Press on Saturday it had no record of Kasem’s remains as being at the facility or that they were supposed to arrive.

There was no immediate explanation for why Kasem’s remains would have gone to Montreal. Gaffney said he couldn’t comment on why Kasem’s wife picked Montreal or why Urgel Bourgie had no record of receiving Kasem’s remains.

“What we did was made sure that Casey got to the airport, we released custody of Casey to the airline,” Gaffney said in an interview Saturday night.

“The airline signed for that and acknowledged that and than at that point we returned to our office, tracked his flight to Montreal, confirmed that he had arrived, reported that to Mrs Kasem.”

“When he landed in Montreal, I ceased being the funeral director in charge.”

A judge granted Kerri Kasem a temporary restraining order preventing her father’s wife from cremating his remains, but her lawyer told The Associated Press that when he approached the Tacoma funeral home with a copy of the restraining order, he was told it no longer had the remains.

“They said they could not disclose where he had gone or where he would end up,” said the lawyer, Scott Winship.

The death certificate was filled out by Jean Kasem and listed an address in Jerusalem, Israel, according to a copy filed in Pierce County Superior Court.

Teruyuki Olsen, a lawyer for Kasem’s wife, refused to comment Friday or provide any information about what happened to Kasem’s body.

Kasem, the radio host of “American Top 40” was 82 when he died last month.

Kerri Kasem, one of three children from Kasem’s first marriage, also asked a judge last week for authorization to seek an autopsy on her father as well as a temporary restraining order to ensure his body was held in cold storage and not cremated until that autopsy is completed.

Judge Ronald Culpepper ordered Jean Kasem to ensure that the radio host’s remains were preserved and that his body stayed at the Tacoma funeral home until the court decided on the autopsy petition following a July 25 hearing.

The story has created an international stir with mainstream and entertainment media outlets as far away as the United Kingdom running stories on the latest developments.

In a letter to the Globe and Mail, Nazanin Afshin-Jam MacKay lashes out at the media and the lawyers who attended a session in which MacKay reportedly said women were leery about becoming judges.

MacKay said women were afraid of being sent to work as judges on the circuit courts, the Toronto Star reported.

The report generated widespread criticism including from the justice ministers of Ontario and Quebec.

His wife said MacKay’s comments have been misrepresented in the media, which she likened to a “24-hour news cycle, National Enquirer-TMZ mentality.”

She wrote that organizers of the private meeting of lawyers have turned down her husband’s request to release the audio recording of his comments to lay the matter to rest.

“Instead, they run to the anti-Conservative media with hearsay and, of course, he is savaged by his accusers, political opponents and press,” Afshin-Jam MacKay wrote in a response to an open letter on the subject by Globe columnist Leah McLaren.

Afshin-Jam MacKay said her husband made a passing reference in the speech of the bond she has with the couple’s infant son and contends that reference was tied with the reference of fewer women applying for judicial positions and misrepresented.

“Ironically he is presumed guilty without any evidence, only hearsay,” she wrote.

Emails MacKay sent to staff marking Mother’s Day and Father’s Day also stirred controversy.

The Mother’s Day email saluted moms for juggling two full-time jobs — home and work — while the Father’s Day message was quite different, making no mention of any household duties, but saying the men were “shaping the minds and futures of the next generation of leaders.”

Both emails were obtained by The Canadian Press.

In her letter to the Globe, Afshin-Jam MacKay said most of the senior officials in her husband’s office were women and they approved the messages, which she said were written by female staffers in the Justice Department.

On Wednesday, Quebec Justice Minister Stephanie Vallee accused MacKay of making “deplorable” comments and suggested he was out of touch with the times.

Ontario Attorney General Madeleine Meilleur also took issue with the suggestion women weren’t applying for judgeships.

]]>MacKaythecanadianpressTV Tuesday: Celebrity Wife Swap season finalehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/tv-tuesday-celebrity-wife-swap-season-finale
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/television/tv-tuesday-celebrity-wife-swap-season-finale#respondTue, 03 Jun 2014 06:28:24 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=455059]]>Justice is served on the season finale of Celebrity Wife Swap, but perhaps not the way former Major League Baseball outfielder David Justice intended.

Justice’s 14 years with the Atlanta Braves and New York Yankees could not have prepared him for a reality-TV show experiment.

Celebrity Wife Swap finds Justice trading spouses with Dweezil Zappa, son of music legend Frank Zappa, who lives an eco-friendly lifestyle in Los Angeles with his wife Megan and their 11-year-old stepdaughter.

Justice leads a lavish lifestyle in San Diego with his wife Rebecca and their three children, aged nine to 14. Conspicuous consumption is the name of the game.

Dweezil Zappa and his wife Megan Marsicano and their daughter star in ABC’s Celebrity Wife Swap.

Rebecca arrives in Los Angeles and is “surprised” — read: appalled — by the modest size of the Zappa family home, not to mention the fact that it’s a “no-cell” zone. Meanwhile, back in San Diego, Megan is “surprised” — read: appalled — by the Justices’ lavish lifestyle, and immediately takes away the kids’ cellphones and demands they help with chores.

Mayhem ensues. (ABC)

Also Watch

Is Kardashian-like fame for you? If so, you might want to watch Famous in 12, if only as a cautionary tale.

Famous in 12 has a fascinating premise: Can an ordinary, everyday family of would-be actors, dancers, writers, DJs and fashion models become famous in 12 weeks, if they’re promoted by the slick, well-oiled publicity machine behind TMZ? Famous in 12 is billed as “social experiment” reality show, but the reality is that, as Famous in 12 is airing on the lightly viewed CW network — a channel that doesn’t have much reach in the U.S., let alone Canada — it’s not likely to have the desired effect. Unless, of course, one or more of the fame-seeking Artiaga family end up on TMZ for all the wrong reasons. (CW)

What these three have in common: all were exposed by the muckraking celebrity news website TMZ — Woods for his 2009 SUV crash and subsequently-revealed long list of mistresses, Sterling for the taped conversation with his now ex-mistress in which the L.A. Clippers owner revealed himself to be all kinds of xenophobe, and on Wednesday morning, the most dastardly of them all:

Crawford, for being the focus of a POLICE INVESTIGATION (!) after a heckler in Los Angeles filed a battery complaint against the Chicago Blackhawks goaltender for allegedly spraying him in the face with a water bottle.

In this, the National Hockey League’s very own Watergate season, when H2O incidents have surpassed concussions in the national conversation, Crawford’s is definitely the worst most heinous latest.

Actually, the LAPD says there is no investigation, having evidently decided that the heckler in question either (a) was embellishing the incident, Tomas Plekanec-style or (b) had it coming.

The point is … TMZ! The 15 minutes of fame Clark Wong, the alleged squirtee, got for taking his phoney outrage and even phonier injury to the cops while being tossed out of the Staples Center late in Game 4 of the Western Conference final on Monday night.

If Boston’s Shawn Thornton was fined $2820.52 for squirting Canadiens defenceman P.K. Subban from the bench, and New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist was nailed $5,000 for emptying his water bottle on Sidney Crosby, Crawford is sure to be disciplined for physical interaction with a fan, if video evidence of it exists.

Wong, 27, told TMZ he was sitting behind the Chicago bench, heckling Crawford after the goalie was “pulled from the game” — the story made no mention of the fact he was pulled for an extra skater with the Hawks trailing the Los Angeles Kings 4-2.

The story continued: “That’s when Crawford — who’s in the middle of a 6-year, $36 MILLION contract — allegedly whipped out a water bottle and blasted him right in the face.

“Wong says he believes the bottle was filled with backwash — along with water — and it has caused serious irritation to his eyes. Wong says he’s going to a doctor to get his eyes checked.”

Quoting “league sources,” TMZ reported that “Wong was ejected from the game 3 to 5 minutes after the spraying incident for ‘taunting the players’ and it was while he was being escorted out of the arena that he began to rub his eyes, complaining about the pain.

“We’re told Wong filed a report with police before leaving the arena. We reached out to Crawford’s camp for comment. So far, no word back.”

Goaltender Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks passes the puck in the second period of Game Four. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

The story raises several important questions, such as: Goaltenders have camps? Could Wong’s eye irritation be caused by Southern California air pollution? Don’t water bottles only squirt OUT? Who knew about backwash? Did the victim consider having his head examined while he’s at the eye doctor, thereby killing two birds with one stone and placing less strain on ObamaCare?

Word from the Blackhawks camp Wednesday morning, in the person of head coach Joel Quenneville, was: “I just heard about it on my way over. First I heard of it. I’m not aware of the situation other than what you just said.

“I’m not worried about it right now. I’m worrying about the game, as Corey will.”

Contacted by Tribune, Clark Wong, fan who accused Corey Crawford of spraying water, declined comment saying he has received death threats.

That would be Game 5 at United Center, which was the other thing happening Wednesday, though certainly not as compelling as the tale of Crawford’s scurrilous attack on the unfortunate Wong, whose only crime was to be a loudmouth, which fans are entitled to be, even when they’re jerks.

“Good luck with that,” said Kings defenceman Alec Martinez, apprised of Wong’s complaint. “I guess it’s just like the disclaimer they give that pucks can leave the ice surface. I guess water and other (stuff) can too … it just comes with the territory.”

There were a few smiles and chuckles as the story made its way through both dressing rooms, but the most succinct was from L.A.’s star defender Drew Doughty.

“Whoop-de-do,” he said.

Trevor Lewis #22 of the Los Angeles Kings stands in front of goaltender Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period in Game Three. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

He was having a little trouble working up much sorrow for the victim, as much as he gets heckled in other rinks.

“I hear stuff all the time,” Doughty said. “I feel like I get booed in a lot of arenas. It doesn’t bother me. It’s kind of cool in its own way, I guess. Fans like to try and get into it on the bench with me.

“Especially Anaheim, there’s this one guy who always sat in the same spot and after every shift he was continually calling my name, trying to chirp me, chirp me, chirp me. Eventually it boils over and I wanted to say something back.”

Sometimes, a fan will even get off a clever line.

Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks defends against Jeff Carter #77 of the Los Angeles Kings in the third period of Game Two of the Western Conference Final during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at United Center on May 21, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)

“I’ve had times where I thought, that was a good one, and I’ll laugh to myself,” Doughty said, “but not let him know I’m laughing, for sure.”

It’s been nearly 15 years since Toronto’s Tie Domi squirted a water bottle at a heckler behind the penalty box in Philadelphia, and the fan came right over a glass panel and into the box, where Domi pummeled him before linesman Kevin Collins could intercede and wrestle the fan away.

Domi was fined $1,000. The fan eventually sued, but dropped the suit when Domi gave him and three buddies tickets to a Leafs-Flyers game at Air Canada Centre.

They met, shook hands, had a laugh or two, and that was that.

It might be a nice gesture if Corey Crawford were to offer tickets, next time the Hawks are in L.A. It could be any day now … or not.

Of course, if Clark Wong’s infected eyes never recover from the horror of getting water in them, there’d be no point.

]]>Chicago Blackhawks v Los Angeles Kings - Game FourcamcolecanadacomChicago Blackhawks fans cheer as goalie Corey Crawford #50 walks to the ice prior to Game Five. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)Goaltender Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks passes the puck in the second period of Game Four. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)Trevor Lewis #22 of the Los Angeles Kings stands in front of goaltender Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period in Game Three. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks defends against Jeff Carter #77 of the Los Angeles Kings in the third period of Game Two of the Western Conference Final during the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at United Center on May 21, 2014 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)Cat chases dog, dog killed by city, child hurt, cat hailed as internet herohttp://o.canada.com/news/cat-chases-dog-dog-killed-by-city-child-lives-cat-hailed-as-internet-hero
http://o.canada.com/news/cat-chases-dog-dog-killed-by-city-child-lives-cat-hailed-as-internet-hero#commentsWed, 14 May 2014 20:03:33 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=445960]]>It was just a kid riding a bicycle when a dog decided to grab its leg and start dragging it along the driveway.

Then, out of nowhere, a cat leaped on to the scene and slammed its body into the dog and forced it off the child. The dog took off and the cat was victorious.

Police told KTLA Television that the pop star was not arrested, but was accused of attempted robbery after an incident late Monday in the San Fernando Valley.

Sgt. Paul McLaughlin said police were initially called because Bieber had allegedly tried to take a girl’s phone.

No other information about the incident was released by police.

However, the TMZ website is reporting that an incident occurred at a batting cage where Bieber and some friends were hitting balls.

The alleged victim told TMZ Bieber and his friends got into a scuffle with other people at the park.

When Bieber saw her reach for a phone to take pictures, the girl told TMZ that the pop star allegedly tried to grab it out of her hand.

This latest brush with the law comes just days after it was decided that Bieber’s assault case in Toronto would be on hold until May 26.

Police allege the Stratford, Ont., native hit a limousine driver in the back of the head after he and five others were picked up by a limo on Dec. 30.

Bieber turned himself in to Toronto police in January to face the charge.

In late April, a South Florida judge delayed Bieber’s trial on charges of driving under the influence, resisting arrest and driving with an expired license until July.

Bieber’s lawyer requested the delay, saying more time was needed to examine evidence and make decisions about how to proceed.

The 20-year-old singer was arrested Jan. 23 in Miami Beach after what police described as an illegal street drag race. He wasn’t charged with drag racing.

]]>Justin BieberthecanadianpressWorld media abuzz with latest Rob Ford scandalhttp://o.canada.com/news/world-media-abuzz-with-latest-rob-ford-scandal
http://o.canada.com/news/world-media-abuzz-with-latest-rob-ford-scandal#commentsThu, 01 May 2014 11:15:48 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=438466]]>TORONTO — When Toronto’s confessed crack-smoking mayor announced Wednesday night that he was taking a break from his re-election campaign to seek “immediate” professional help for his issues, the rest of the world took notice.

International media were almost as quick to report the latest revelations in the Rob Ford scandal as hometown news outlets, with a media report of another video allegedly showing the mayor smoking crack snagging top headlines.

Such industry giants as The Associated Press, ABC and the BBC offered prominent coverage, while the story was the top-rated item on TMZ.

Social media was also instantly abuzz after two Toronto newspapers printed fresh allegations concerning the controversial mayor.

The Globe and Mail said two of its reporters viewed a new video of Ford smoking what the newspaper said was described as crack cocaine by a self-professed drug dealer. The Globe, which said the mayor would not comment on the video Wednesday, reported that it was secretly filmed in Ford’s sister’s basement early Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, the Toronto Sun reported it obtained an audio recording of the mayor “being unruly as he’s ordering booze” and making “lewd comments” about one of his election rivals at a west Toronto bar. The mayor reportedly told the paper he didn’t remember making the comments.

Rather than issuing an outright denial, as he has done in similar situations, Ford issued a statement through his lawyer saying he planned to take a 30-day leave to address his problems.

“He acknowledges he has a substance abuse problem and he wants to do something about it,” Dennis Morris said late Wednesday.

Morris’s statement was rapidly picked up by the BBC, ABC and Los Angeles Times, which all ran stories detailing Ford’s legal woes both past and present.

The mayor has been a fixture of foreign media coverage since his admission, last November, that he had smoked crack cocaine in the past.

His much-hyped appearance on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night talk show only increased his international profile.

Kimmel, who razzed the mayor and his previous “drunken stupors” before a late-night audience in February, seemed to recognize that the latest allegations were no laughing matter.

“All jokes aside, I hope @TOMayorFord really does get the help he obviously needs,” Kimmel wrote on Twitter.

The mayor, a vocal critic of much Canadian news coverage, has often praised foreign media for adopting what he described as a less combative tone.

International news watchers also weighed in via social media, offering reflections on what many view as a mayoral phenomenon.

“OK, so NOW can you Torontonians get rid of this guy? asked one bemused Twitter user.

Others treated the event with a degree of wry amusement.

“I just want Rob Ford to climb the CN Tower angrily swatting at planes as Bieber dangles from his other hand,” quipped a twitter user from Columbus, Ohio.

“Dear Canadian Friends, Sorry for your Rob Ford angst, but it’s kinda delightful to witness all the ire,” wrote another.

Closer to home, reaction poured in swiftly from Ford’s mayoral rivals, who unanimously voiced concerns that a temporary leave from the campaign trail was not enough.

“@TOMayorFord is a disgrace. It’s time for him to go. Now,” tweeted fellow right winger David Soknacki.

John Tory, another fiscal conservative widely viewed as a strong challenger to Ford’s mayoralty, issued a statement expressing relief that Ford was seeking help, but calling for more decisive action on the professional front.

“Like Torontonians across the city, I am deeply disappointed by these revelations of Mayor Ford’s behaviour,” the statement read. “For the good of the city, I call on Mayor Ford to resign.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/news/world-media-abuzz-with-latest-rob-ford-scandal/feed3FordthecanadianpressNBA Commissioner Adam Silver bans for life Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterlinghttp://o.canada.com/sports/a-look-at-the-key-elements-as-silver-contemplates-action-against-sterling
http://o.canada.com/sports/a-look-at-the-key-elements-as-silver-contemplates-action-against-sterling#commentsTue, 29 Apr 2014 02:01:24 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=436767]]>NEW YORK — Issuing about the strongest rebuke that he could, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life Tuesday for making racist comments in a recorded conversation, the first step toward forcing a sale of the club and permanently removing Sterling from the league.

Silver also fined Sterling US$2.5 million, and again expressed outrage.

“I fully expect to get the support I need from the other NBA owners to remove him,” Silver said.

Several owners immediately chimed in with support of Silver’s decision. Sterling, the league’s longest-tenured owner and someone with an estimated net worth of about $2 billion, did not offer any immediate comment.

The penalties, which were announced only three days after the scandal broke, are the harshest ever issued by the league and among the stiffest punishments ever given to an owner in professional sports. Silver said a league investigation found that Sterling was in fact the person on the audiotapes that were released over the weekend and immediately sent shock waves throughout the game.

“We stand together in condemning Mr. Sterling’s views,” Silver said. “They simply have no place in the NBA.”

Sterling still owns the team, but going forward he is immediately barred from attending any NBA games or practices, being present at any Clippers office or facility, participating in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team, or being part of any league business.

It’s unclear how Sterling will respond.

“This league is far bigger than any one owner, any one coach and any one player,” said Silver, who as commissioner has broad powers under what’s typically called the “best interest of the game” clause of the NBA constitution.

But Silver works for the owners, and he will need 75 per cent of them — if all 30 teams vote, he’ll need 23 on his side — to force Sterling out of the league completely.

The fine will be donated to organizations dedicated to anti-discrimination and tolerance efforts that will be jointly selected by the NBA and the Players Association, Silver said.

“This has all happened in three days, and so I am hopeful there will be no long-term damage to the league and to the Clippers organization,” Silver said. “But as I said earlier, I’m outraged so I certainly understand other people’s outrage. This will take some time and appropriate healing will be necessary.”

“As a proud member of the National Basketball Association, we stand strongly in our belief that the comments attributed to Mr. Sterling have no place in our society or sport. Our organization will always work to contribute to a culture of diversity and acceptance in this league and fully support the actions taken today. We thank commissioner Adam Silver, and all of the NBA players, for their leadership on this important issue.”

Sterling’s comments were released over the weekend by TMZ and Deadspin, and numerous NBA owners and players have condemned them. Even President Barack Obama weighed in on the crisis, the first of Silver’s brief tenure as commissioner.

“Commissioner Silver thank you for protecting our beautiful and powerful league!! Great leader!!,” Miami Heat star LeBron James wrote on Twitter.

The league’s investigation started Saturday and players immediately began expressing intense displeasure with the situation, even going so far as to ask Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to get involved on behalf of the players’ union.

“When one rotten apple does something, or if you see cancer, you’ve got to cut it out really quickly,” Johnson said at a news conference in Los Angeles, flanked by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and players like Steve Nash, Tyson Chandler, Luke Walton and Roger Mason Jr., among others. “And Commissioner Silver did that in real time. We’re so proud and thankful for him.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver walks to the podium at news conference in New York April 29, 2014. Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording.

The sanctions came a few hours before the Clippers were to play Golden State in Game 5 of a tied-up Western Conference first-round playoff series.

“When you get this many Lakers to stand up for the Clippers, you know something big is happening in L.A.,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “We are a single team here today, a team not only speaking out for what we’re against — racism, hatred, bigotry, intolerance — but what we’re for. We’re for great basketball.”

Before Silver took the podium, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tweeted out a photo of the NBA Constitution, saying “It exists for a reason.”

Several sponsors either terminated or suspended their business dealings with the team on Monday, though individual deals that some of those companies have with Clippers stars like Chris Paul and Blake Griffin will continue and were not affected. Still, it was a clear statement that companies, like just about everyone inside the league, were outraged.

“Commissioner Silver showed great leadership in banning LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling for life,” Magic Johnson, who was referenced on the taped conversation involving Sterling, tweeted shortly after the league’s decision was announced.

Johnson’s role on the tape stemmed from Sterling’s female companion apparently posting a photo of her and the Hall of Fame player on her Instagram account. That photo has since been deleted, but raised Sterling’s ire nonetheless.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” Sterling asks the woman on the tape.

The issues raised when the tapes were released over the weekend represent just another chapter in Sterling’s long history of being at the centre of controversy.

In the past, he’s faced extensive federal charges of civil rights violations and racial discrimination in his business dealings, and some of his race-related statements would be described as shocking.

He has also been sued in the past for sexual harassment by former employees, and even the woman who goes by the name “V. Stiviano” — purportedly the female voice on the tapes at the centre of this scandal — describes Sterling in court documents as a man “with a big toothy grin brandishing his sexual prowess in the faces of the Paparazzi and caring less what anyone else thought, the least of which, his own wife.”

Stiviano is being sued by Rochelle Sterling, who is seeking to reclaim at least $1.8 million in cash and gifts that her husband allegedly provided the woman.

Silver said when he first heard the audio, he hoped it had been altered or was fake — but also said that from his 20-year relationship with Sterling, he suspected the voice was his.

“This has been a painful moment,” Silver said, “for all members of the NBA family.”

How big a penalty is ownership revocation? It was thought to be a very unlikely outcome, at least right away. The league’s owners were said to be wary of forcing Sterling to sell his team, even if it would bring him a financial windfall. The league took over the New Orleans Hornets from previous owner George Shinn, but that was because of financial difficulties. The Clippers are a profitable team and Sterling is worth a reported $1.9 billion, so money is not an issue in this case. Plus, taking such measures would almost assuredly bring a lawsuit from Sterling and a long, expensive legal fight.

Earlier, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wrote a column in Time expressing his feelings about the Clippers owner.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: Racism is the true enemy. Donald Sterling is just another jerk with more money than brains. http://t.co/04UZo2h1k7

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/a-look-at-the-key-elements-as-silver-contemplates-action-against-sterling/feed1Adam SilvertheassociatedpresscanadaSpike Lee attends the press conference as NBA Commissioner Adam Silver discusses punishment for Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling. (Photo by Elsa/Getty Images)clippersNBA Commissioner Adam Silver walks to the podium at news conference in New York April 29, 2014. Silver announced that he is banning Los Angeles Clipper owner Donald Sterling for life from the Clippers organization, in response to racist comments the league says he made in an audio recording.Clippers try to stay focused on Warriors in Game 4 after Sterling’s alleged commentshttp://o.canada.com/sports/clippers-try-to-stay-focused-on-warriors-in-game-4-after-sterlings-alleged-comments
Sun, 27 Apr 2014 04:04:50 +0000http://postmediacanadadotcom.wordpress.com/?p=436056]]>SAN FRANCISCO — Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers would prefer to be talking about how well Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan have played against the Golden State Warriors. Or how his team has defended Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. Or just about anything that has happened on the court in the first-round playoff series.

Instead, Rivers and his players spent Saturday talking about how they would respond to an audio recording of a man identified as Clippers owner Donald Sterling telling his girlfriend not to bring black people to games.

“The fact that I had to spend 45 minutes in a meeting instead of watching film did not make me happy,” Rivers said.

Whether the comments — which drew sharp criticism and calls for action from around the NBA — effect the Clippers in Game 4 against the Warriors is all that worries Rivers right now. Los Angeles leads the series 2-1 and has looked every bit like a championship contender in winning the past two games.

Chasing a title is the reason Rivers said players decided against protesting or even boycotting the game. They want to win for each other, he said, and not for Sterling or anyone else.

Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers yells out instructions as his team plays the Golden State Warriors during the first half in Game 3 of an opening-round NBA basketball playoff series, Thursday, April 24, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

“For me, I want to focus on my guys. I came here for them. They came here for each other. Our goals have not changed,” Rivers said passionately after the Clippers’ practice at the University of San Francisco. “It’s like one of the players said, ‘Hey, when I was a kid, I had a goal to win a world championship. It was to do that. It wasn’t to win a world championship for someone.”‘

Clippers point guard Chris Paul, the president of the National Basketball Players Association, released a statement through the union that said “this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively.” Paul and Clippers All-Star forward Blake Griffin declined further comment on the issue after practice. Other players were not made available as Rivers said he would speak for the team.

“A lot of guys voiced their opinions. None of them were happy about it,” Rivers said. “This was a situation where we’re trying to go after something very important for us, something that we’ve all dreamed about all our childhoods. Donald or anyone else had nothing to do with that dream, and we’re not going to let anything get in the way of those dreams.”

Sterling, a real estate owner who has a decades-long history of alleged discrimination and offensive behaviour, made his team the centre of NBA attention for all the wrong reasons again.

In a recording posted on TMZ’s website, a man reported to be Sterling questions his girlfriend’s association with minorities. Clippers President Andy Roeser said in statement that the team did not know if the tape is legitimate or has been altered.

Roeser also said the views expressed on the recording do not reflect Sterling’s beliefs and that the woman on the tape — identified by TMZ as V. Stiviano — “is the defendant in a lawsuit brought by the Sterling family alleging that she embezzled more than $1.8 million, who told Mr. Sterling that she would ‘get even.”‘

Sterling has not commented on the situation.

FILE – In this Dec. 19, 2010, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling looks on during the second half of an NBA preseason basketball game between the Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, File)

Left in the aftermath was Rivers and his players facing more than 50 reporters at the Clippers’ practice Saturday. A day earlier, only about a dozen were at the team’s hotel for the interview session.

Most players ignored the added attention. Jamal Crawford looked over and laughed. Hedo Turkoglu jokingly shouted and smiled as he attempted shots.

All that the hoopla meant for the Clippers as a team, Rivers said, was one monumental “distraction” before its biggest game of the season.

“In a weird way, I’m sure Golden State is having a ball right now because we’re not talking about them,” Rivers said.

Warriors coach Mark Jackson, who played for the Clippers from 1992-94, said “there’s no place” for Sterling’s alleged remarks but his team would remain focused on the game. His players echoed those sentiments, saying they wouldn’t be deterred by one man’s beliefs — no matter how offensive.

Rivers also said the audio recording would not serve as motivation for his team.

“We’re playing Golden State, and Golden State is our enemy right now,” Rivers said. “That’s where we’re going to keep it, and that’s where we want to keep it.”

]]>0.000000 0.0000000.0000000.000000Donald-Sterling-V-Stiviano.jpgtheassociatedpresscanadaLos Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers yells out instructions as his team plays the Golden State Warriors during the first half in Game 3 of an opening-round NBA basketball playoff series, Thursday, April 24, 2014, in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)FILE - In this Dec. 19, 2010, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling looks on during the second half of an NBA preseason basketball game between the Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. The NBA is investigating a report of an audio recording in which a man purported to be Sterling makes racist remarks while speaking to his girlfriend. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement Saturday, APril 26, 2014, that the league is in the process of authenticating the validity of the recording posted on TMZ's website. Bass called the comments "disturbing and offensive." (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok, File)Georges St-Pierre forks out whopping $734K to ex-managerhttp://o.canada.com/sports/george-st-pierre-forks-out-whopping-734k-to-ex-manager
http://o.canada.com/sports/george-st-pierre-forks-out-whopping-734k-to-ex-manager#commentsWed, 20 Nov 2013 22:47:30 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=352777]]>UFC superstar George St-Pierre was forced to fork a whopping $734,000 to his former manager after their relationship tanked.

TMZ reports that GSP’s onetime manager, Shari Spencer, sued the Canadian MMA macho man for tossing her from the figurative ring in 2011. But Spencer could be in line for big bucks, the gossip website reports.

A UFC source said that the pair’s relationship soured quickly and ended “very badly.”

Now, a Nevada judge has ordered GSP to pay Spencer’s company a litany of goodies, including:

20 per cent of all future revenue on UFC Pay-Per-View fights;

20 per cent of royalties earned from 2008 UFC merchandising contract;

5 per cent of future revenues from sponsorships Spencer helped him earn.

The maligned manager’s final cut would be worth millions, sources told TMZ.

The financial setback is just the latest incident that has seen GSP pummeled. Even retaining his title last Saturday against Johny Hendricks has raised some eyebrows. In addition, GSP’s father has been very ill and an unplanned pregnancy have also put a frown on the champ’s face.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/george-st-pierre-forks-out-whopping-734k-to-ex-manager/feed1George St. Pierrespostmedianews1UFC 167Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Colts’ Richardson has own orgy sex tape, says reporthttp://o.canada.com/uncategorized/unsportsmanlike-conduct-colts-richardson-has-own-orgy-sex-tape-says-report
http://o.canada.com/uncategorized/unsportsmanlike-conduct-colts-richardson-has-own-orgy-sex-tape-says-report#respondSat, 16 Nov 2013 02:18:57 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=349376]]>First Paris Hilton, then Kim Kardashian and now Indianapolis Colts running back Trent Richardson could be the star of his very own sex tape.

Gossip website TMZ reports that someone is pitching a sex tape starring the Colts star. TMZ said the torrid tape in question features Richardson engaged in a wild orgy with at least three buxom babes.

The former NFL No. 1 draft pick has so far held his tongue on his amorous antics but according to TMZ — he has nothing to be ashamed of.

Duke Mondy and teammate Dante Williams were arrested and then released on bail in California this week.

College players skate on rape charges

Two Oakland (Mich.) Golden Grizzlies basketball players are off the hook on rape charges, a Detroit TV station is reporting.

According to WDIV, the L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said there was insufficient evidence to lay charges.

Senior Duke Mondy and junior Dante Williams had been arrested and being held on $100,000 bail each, TMZ had reported but their coach, Greg Kampe, told CBS Sports the duo were sprung from the crowbar hotel.

TMZ had earlier reported that a twentysomething woman called 911 around 5 a.m. Thursday reporting she had been raped inside a Culver City, Calif. hotel room. She told cops she met the alleged dirty duo at a Los Angeles Clippers game. While the hoopsters may have skated on the rape charges they’re not free and clear with their coach.

Kampe told CBS: “The (players) will be appropriately suspended upon review of the situation. This was more than going past curfew, more than breaking of team policy. It’s more than that. I take it very seriously, am apologetic to our fans, apologetic to college basketball that something like this would happen.”

Tennessee Titans cheerleaders are silhouetted against the sun.

Former NFL cheerleader in teen oral sex case avoids jail

Gimme an O! A former NFL cheerleader who tried to perform oral sex on a 12-year-old boy has avoided prison, TMZ reports.

Tempestuous former Tennessee Titan cheerleader Elizabeth ‘Naughty Liz’ Garner followed the unsuspecting boy into a bathroom last February. The two were attending a party hosted by the lad’s mom.

Cops say Garner allegedly grabbed the boy’s penis over his shorts then tried to remove them, all the better to perform oral sex on him. The boy told detectives that Garner asked if he’d ever been with a woman. Garner — laughably — told cops she thought the kid was grown up.

But the pretty blonde predator caught a break when her more serious sex charges were lowered to reckless endangerment. She pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 18 months probation with the proviso she undergoes drug testing and attends AA.

Toronto rapper Drake, seen here with Mayor Rob Ford at a press conference earlier this year when the Toronto Raptors were revealed as the host of the NBA All-Star 2016, is being slammed by a New York Post columnist for being a poor ambassador.

NBA All-Star Game entertainer Drake slammed for ‘vile’ lyrics

The New York Post is slamming Canadian-born rapper Drake for his upcoming role as the primo entertainer at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto.

Mushnick continues calling the singers latest album so “vile” it made him “squirm.” Mushnick’s solution? He wants the NBA to deliver an edict to Drake: “Ya know what, Drake? We’re better than that. Or at least we’re going to try to be. Thanks, anyway.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/uncategorized/unsportsmanlike-conduct-colts-richardson-has-own-orgy-sex-tape-says-report/feed0Indianapolis Colts v San Diego Chargerspostmedianews1Duke Mondy and teammate Dante Williams were arrested and then released on bail in California this week.Tennessee Titans cheerleaders are silhouetted against the sun. Toronto rapper Drake, seen here with Mayor Rob Ford at a press conference earlier this year when the Toronto Raptors were revealed as the host of the NBA All-Star 2016, is being slammed by a New York Post columnist for being a poor ambassador.Unsportsmanlike Conduct: Scammers ripped off NHL stars, report revealshttp://o.canada.com/sports/unsportsmanlike-conduct-scammers-ripped-off-nhl-stars-report-reveals
http://o.canada.com/sports/unsportsmanlike-conduct-scammers-ripped-off-nhl-stars-report-reveals#respondThu, 14 Nov 2013 22:21:58 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=348359]]>A self-proclaimed lifestyle coach and convicted cocaine dealer have been indicted for ripping off at least a dozen current and retired NHL stars.

Law enforcement officials arrested Phil Kenner and Tommy Constantine who allegedly burned the stars and charged them with wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. The duo had arranged a bogus real estate and shell company scam but the players’ money was instead diverted to the accused swindlers, the New York Daily News reports.

“Phillip Kenner spun a web of lies, deceit and broken promises that stretched from Hawaii to Mexico to the east end of Long Island,” U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch wrote in the indictment. “Kenner used his school connections to build a client list of NHL players. Once he gained their trust he promptly betrayed it by steering them to fraudulent investment schemes that enriched himself and Constantine to the tune of millions at the players’ expense.”

The pair’s alleged scam came to light when former New York Ranger and Islander Bryan Berard and a retired cop went to police.

Berard — a former No. 1 NHL draft pick — lost an eye in a hockey mishap before fighting his way back to the show. The News said Berard and other players worked with the feds for nearly three years to bring the duo to justice. Other alleged victims include former Islander Michael Peca, former Ranger Mattias Norstrom, the Dallas Stars’ Jere Lehtinen as well as hockey journeymen Glen Murray and Jozef Stumpel.

Berard told the News: “Both are in cuffs, finally. I feel like I can finally close a chapter in my life. It’s been a tough three years finding out a friend/business manager had stolen from me after I retired from the NHL.”

Berard told the New York tabloid he thinks he may have lost at least $3 million — and possibly as much as $6 million. Others have lost all their savings, the News said.

Former Washington Capital Dmitri Khristich returned home to Ukraine broke while Jason Woolley — who did stints for the Red Wings, Sabres, Penguins, Panthers and Capitals — filed for bankruptcy in September 2012.

Jameis Winston of the Florida State Seminoles is being eyed in a sexual assault claim in Tallahassee, according to TMZ.

Heisman frontrunner Jameis Winston probed in sex assault

One of the frontrunners for U.S. college football’s Heisman Trophy — Florida State’s Jameis Winston — may be watching the bowl games behind bars.

TMZ reports that the college jock is being eyed in a sexual assault claim in Tallahassee. Cops say that a woman filed a sexual assault complaint with them last December, claiming she was attacked with the use of “physical force.” Motive for the crime? Sexual gratification, police say.

Apparently boozing was also on the menu before the alleged assault. FSU is protecting their investment — er, student.

The institute of higher learning said in a statement: “We are aware of a matter that was investigated by the Tallahassee Police Department almost a year ago. Because the investigation has not been closed by TPD, we cannot comment further at this time. We look forward to a speedy resolution of the issue. There is no change in Jameis Winston’s status.”

So there.

Lesbian WNBA star Brittney Griner has the gay press in an uproar after revealing the league offers players fashion tips.

Writer complains WNBA players given makeup, fashion tips

Lesbian WNBA star Brittney Griner’s admission that the league gives rookies tips on make-up and fashion has triggered a firestorm in the gay press.

Griner — one of the female hoops circuit’s premier stars — spilled the beans to Elle magazine in a wide-ranging interview. Unfortunately, a Washington Blade writer took umbrage at the idea the league wants its players to be more feminine.

Lateefah Williams slammed the WNBA and said the aesthetic tips were a “type of softer homophobia or heterosexism that has taken the place of outright bigotry in many circles. In fact, many, if not most, people who commit these type of acts do not even realize that their acts are homophobic.”

Williams argues that the league — which struggles to fill arenas — is trying to whitewash the WNBA’S sapphic flavour.

She added: “The make-up, hair and fashion seminars illustrate the clear gender bias in sports. The most popular women athletes are those who are deemed to be the most physically attractive, while the most popular male athletes are those who are deemed to be the most talented. There are exceptions to this rule, but generally, physical appearance is scrutinized at a much greater level in women’s athletics.”

Rapper M.I.A., who is being sued by the NFL, said she’ll attend the 2014 Super Bowl in New Jersey to back pop star Bruno Mars.

Super Bowl hell: M.I.A. coming back

Loudmouth rapper M.I.A. is threatening to sack this year’s Super Bowl halftime show with more eye-rolling antics.

The tiresome Brit is currently facing a $1.5 million lawsuit courtesy of the NFL after she give the bird to the gazillion fans watching this year’s game.

Now, she said she’ll attend the 2014 Super Bowl in New Jersey to back pop star Bruno Mars. Although claiming to be a revolutionary, she had a baby with one of the Bronfman heirs.

]]>http://o.canada.com/sports/unsportsmanlike-conduct-scammers-ripped-off-nhl-stars-report-reveals/feed0Chicago Blackhawks v Washington Capitalspostmedianews1Jameis Winston of the Florida State Seminoles is being eyed in a sexual assault claim in Tallahassee, according to TMZ.Lesbian WNBA star Brittney Griner has the gay press in an uproar after revealing the league offers players fashion tips.Rapper M.I.A., who is being sued by the NFL, said she’ll attend the 2014 Super Bowl in New Jersey to back pop star Bruno Mars.Justin Bieber reportedly loses $40K gold chain, performs at Sweet Sixteen without ithttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/celebrity/justin-bieber-attacked-toronto-nightclub
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/celebrity/justin-bieber-attacked-toronto-nightclub#commentsSat, 31 Aug 2013 23:53:07 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=303633]]>Justin Bieber was partying in Toronto Friday night when a fellow club-goer tried to tackle the singer, according to TMZ.

The tabloid website reports that Bieber left the safe confines of the VIP area of Adelaide St. W. nightclub Uniun around 3 a.m. to mingle with the rabble when the attack occurred.

A “male clubgoer charged at him, got hold of his shirt … and attempted to take him down, but failed,” read the brief post.

“The fan was just a small little guy,” Uniun manager Orin Bristol later told the Toronto Star. “He wasn’t being aggressive.”

Bristol described the altercation as “more of a shoving match and pushing match.”

TMZ’s report included two photos from the nightclub showing security coming to Bieber’s aid before taking the man out of the club. In one photo, the attacker is visible on the ground and Bieber is alleged to have repeatedly kicked the man in retaliation.

The cops were not involved in the altercation and there are no reports of violence on the Toronto Police website.

But a $40,000 gold chain was lost in the process according to Uniun management. Police told the Toronto Star that they still heard no reports — and were not investigating the matter.

Bieber performed at a Sweet Sixteen party at the Art Gallery of Ontario on Saturday night. The honouree was Erica Shnaider, daughter of Toronto billionaire Alex Shnaider, whose enthusiasm for the teen idol has been well-documented.

TMZ has reported that Bieber’s team has denied the fact that their teen-wonder ever spit on fans off of his Toronto-based hotel last week, while in town on his world-wide tour.

Say what?!

His team told the site, “Justin didn’t spit on anyone. No fans were below the balcony. TMZ superimposed photos of the fans next to Justin on a completely different balcony to make it appear like he was spitting on fans when he wasn’t. In fact, earlier in the day, Justin bought his fans hot chocolate and played them some of his new music. Justin loves his fans.”

TMZ is denying the allegations claiming that there were in fact fans outside of his hotel room. Not only did the Biebz Instagram a photo himself, but multiple Toronto-based news outlets also snapped some pics and were quick to share on Twitter.

On top of that, TMZ bought the photos from a reputable photographer in Toronto, and claims that the photos are 100% accurate.

TMZ: 1. Bieber: 0.

Related articles

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/justin-bieber-accuses-tmz-of-superimposing-spit-pic/feed1Justin BiebermirandafurtadoAmanda Bynes accidentally drenched dog in gasoline while setting blazehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/amanda-bynes-accidentally-drenched-dog-in-gasoline-while-setting-blaze
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/amanda-bynes-accidentally-drenched-dog-in-gasoline-while-setting-blaze#respondWed, 24 Jul 2013 15:11:32 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=285995]]>Amanda Bynes is currently on a 5150 hold after trying to set a blaze in a residential neighbourhood that consequently soaked her dog in gasoline.

As we previously reported, Bynes was spotted with a gasoline container in an elderly woman’s driveway, while trying to start a fire.

According to TMZ, Bynes later took off in a taxi and was spotted at a liquor store where she reportedly raced to the back of the store and dove into the “employees only” section with her dog. According to onlooker, the retired actress reeked of gasoline and was reportedly trying to rinse the dog off.

The site reports that an employee noticed something was wrong and raced back to see if everything was ok, only Bynes freaked out and left the store quickly.

Just after this, Bynes was then put on a 5150 hold, to which the L.A. Times reports she could technically be held up to two weeks — as compared to the standard 72 hours, if, and only if, ‘if mental health authorities determine she’s a danger to either herself and/or others.”

So why was Bynes in the sunny state of California anyways? Well, according to RadarOnline, the wig-wearing, bong-throwing hot mess has reportedly run out of money that she currently has access to, and no one in New York would rent out an apartment to her after all of her shenanigans.

Bynes parents reportedly live in the same area as where the troubled actress was spotted playing pyro-technician and sources have told TMZ that the elderly lady who lives at the residence is trying to put Bynes’ parents on the hook for the cleanup.

The site reports that despite a kind neighbour offering to power wash the mess, the woman insists that the Bynes family is responsible for the disaster. TMZ tracked down Bynes’ parents and said, “Amanda needs to pay for it.”

According to the site the dog is now safe and in the custody of her parents.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/amanda-bynes-accidentally-drenched-dog-in-gasoline-while-setting-blaze/feed0130416_AmandaBynesmirandafurtadoPhilip Seymour Hoffman addicted to heroin: released from detoxhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/philip-seymour-hoffman-addicted-to-heroin-released-from-detox
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/philip-seymour-hoffman-addicted-to-heroin-released-from-detox#respondFri, 31 May 2013 15:03:43 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=257370]]>Philip Seymour Hoffman is now safe and working on a movie. But, according to TMZ, that is far from where he was a few weeks ago.

According to TMZ, Philip Seymour Hoffman was recently released from detox after falling off the wagon — 23 years after kicking his nasty habits.

The site reports that PSH gave into his addiction nearly a year ago. According to the report PSH’s problems started with prescription pills, and most recently, included snorting heroin.

It looks like the nasty turn to the dark side was enough of a wake-up call for the Capote star, because TMZ reports that the heroin use only lasted a week before he checked himself into a 10-day detox facility on the East Coast. According to TMZ, PSH gives props to “a great group of friends and family” for pushing him to get professional help.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/philip-seymour-hoffman-addicted-to-heroin-released-from-detox/feed0Philip Seymour HoffmanmirandafurtadoJustin Bieber in mid-speed car chase with NFL playerhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/justin-bieber
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/justin-bieber#commentsTue, 28 May 2013 16:41:12 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=255395]]>This just in: Justin Bieber continues to be a teenager with way too much money. According to multiple witnesses, the pint-sized star is involved with the cops. Again.

It turns out the Biebz is just like you and I, if you and I were still 19 and driving around aimlessly looking for the closest Tim Horton’s parking lot to hang out in but, you know, with a Ferrari instead of our mom’s dog hair-filled mini-van and our own mansion to hang out in with superstars instead of our local coffee spot.

According to TMZ, Bieber’s growing recklessness has reached a new high and, according to TMZ, this time it involved two separate calls to authorities reporting that Bieber and his Ferrari were driving at a “startling high rate of speed.”

Now, this isn’t the old cat lady at the end of the street reporting this. According to TMZ, one of the complaints, which allegedly took place around 8:00 p.m. while kids were still out on the street, was reportedly filed from former NFL superstar Keyshawn Johnson.

According to the site, Johnson was on his way home from a nice party — seriously, his kid was in the back seat — when the Biebz flew by like the speed of light in his Ferrari. TMZ reports that the doting dad was seriously pissed because the kid could have easily killed someone.

According to the site, Johnson did the responsible thing and dropped his kid off at his presumably swanky pad and then chased the Canadian crooner in is his Prius. (Yes, a PRI-US! Apparently there really is one for everyone out there … even if you’re a 6’4″, 212 lbs former football player.)

After the mid-speed car chase, TMZ reports that Johnson used his Prius to block Bieber’s Ferrari in the driveway and tried to confront the singer face-to-face (or face-to-chest in Bieber’s case…), but the singer turned around and ran into his house and refused to come out.

Not so tough now, are ya Bieber?

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/justin-bieber/feed3163106384mirandafurtadoWatch: Amanda Bynes get arrestedhttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/watch-amanda-bynes-get-arrested
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/watch-amanda-bynes-get-arrested#commentsFri, 24 May 2013 14:54:20 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=253692]]>We all knew this day would come, and to some, it’s a surprise that it hasn’t happened sooner: Amanda Bynes has been arrested.

Amanda Bynes most recent mugshot from May 23, 2013.

According to multiple outlets, including TMZ, law enforcement was called to Bynes’ building after a doorman had spotted her rolling and smoking a joint in the lobby of her building while acting erratically and talking to herself.

According to reports, Bynes let the officers into her apartment and threw a bong out of the window of her 36th floor apartment. Luckily no one was the victim of the falling bong bomb.

Sources say that when the fallen actress was arrested she was spotted sporting a scraggly platinum blonde wig, allegedly yelling, “Don’t you know who I am?”

Classy, Bynes. Classy!

TMZ Reports that Bynes was charged for criminal possession of pot, reckless endangerment and felony tampering with evidence.

But, that’s not it! Sources told TMZ that the actress also got the added bonus of a psych evaluation at Roosevelt Hospital before being booked.

As if that weren’t enough, TMZ reports that Mander is still in custody in a holding cell and will reportedly get a hearing with a judge sometime this morning.

So where are Bynes’ parents in all of this? Well according to RadarOnline, the 27-year-old’s ‘rents are reportedly trying to get their hands on a conservatorship for their disruptive daughter, but aren’t having any such luck. A source told the outlet, “Rick & Lynn have met with several lawyers that handle conservatorships in the past month, because they want to get a conservatorship of their daughter,” the source told RadarOnline. “They have been advised that even as disturbing as Amanda’s behavior is, it’s very unlikely that a judge would sign off on a temporary conservatorship.

“Conservatorships are very hard to get, and being mentally ill and addicted to drugs isn’t enough. Amanda hasn’t ever been to rehab or ever agreed to see a mental health professional. Her parents are absolutely powerless to do anything at this point.”

Photographer, Giovanni Arnold, who claims to have been at Bynes’ “drug den” claims that there was “Weed was everywhere,” when he visited.

“On the bed, all over the floor.” The photographer also claims that Bynes also did a little booger sugar while he was there. Bynes however has flat-out denied these allegations telling In Touch, “They’re the ones into drugs, so they bring drugs, but I don’t do them.”

Ummm, right.

Either way, photos of Bynes’ “drug den” apartment recently surfaced between the pages of In Touch, and, of course, the actress took to Twitter to deny the allegations:

“Amanda has no grounds whatsoever to sue the magazine because that is her in the photos and it’s definitely inside her apartment,” a source told RadarOnline.

“I’ve been in her apartment. That’s her bed and that’s her bathroom, and that’s Amanda.”

“Amanda lives by ‘deny, deny, deny,’ so that’s what she’s doing. But she knows that’s her apartment and that’s her in the photos. She’s just embarrassed,” the source told RadarOnline.

“And she was obviously partying that night and probably doesn’t even remember the pictures being taken in the first place.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/watch-amanda-bynes-get-arrested/feed2130311_BynesFINALmirandafurtadoAmanda Bynes most recent mugshot from May 23, 2013. Jon Bon Jovi calls Justin Bieber an a**holehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/jon-bon-jovi-calls-justin-bieber-an-ahole
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/jon-bon-jovi-calls-justin-bieber-an-ahole#commentsWed, 22 May 2013 15:06:44 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=252291]]>Jon Bon Jovi and Justin Bieber have a few things in common: Name initials, flowing locks and taking over women’s hearts worldwide. But that doesn’t mean that JBJ is a fan of JB.

According to RadarOnline, the OG rocker heard of the pint-size singer’s recent antics in London when he arrived two hours late for his own show and had some words for the young rocker.

“Every generation has guys that do that, none of that is new,” Bon Jovi told the Standard while on tour in Vienna.

“They run the risk of disrespecting their audience members who have worked hard to pay for their ticket, to give you the permission to take two or three hours of their lives — or in that kid’s case, 80 minutes of their lives.”

We went on to add salt to wounds by saying, “Do it once, you can be forgiven. Do it enough times and shame on you. They won’t have you back,” he said. “Then it just becomes a cliché. It’s really not cool — you’re an a**hole. Go to f**kin’ work!”

BOOM!

It was over two decades ago that Bon Jovi (and his oh-so-dreamy ‘do) released raw joy to their fans with the 1984 hit album Bon Jovi. So, clearly this guy know a little somethin’ somethin’ about show biz. Sorry, Biebz.

So how much of Bieber’s antics are actually released to the public? Probably not that much. According to TMZ, whenever the Canadian crooner has people at his house for an infamous shindig, everyone in attendance MUST sign an iron-clad NDA.

The agreement claims that anyone who talks, Tweets, Instagrams etc. any details of a party, which includes “physical health, or the philosophical, spiritual or other views or characteristics” of Bieber or his guests, will be on the hook for $5 million US, reports TMZ.

Obviously there is no word on what happens inside of Bieber’s castle, but the agreement reportedly says the parties are “potentially hazardous and you should not participate unless you are medically able and properly trained.”

And risks include: “minor injuries to catastrophic injuries, including death.”

To add insult to injury, as the TMZ tip line is a toll-free number, the humorous prank could cost the website a ton of cash in toll charges.

Naturally, TMZ did not take this lying down.

Admitting the prank was “kind of funny and kind of screwed us up at the same time,” the website sent a film crew to hound Bieber manager Scooter Braun as he left a restaurant with Taylor Swift’s sleepover buddy, Ed Sheeran.

In the clip above, posted Wednesday morning, TMZ’s eternally-thirsty head honcho Harvey Levin exposed that, in retaliation, he called Braun’s publicist and informed them that he was planning to post Braun’s personal number.

Consequently, an incised Braun called Levin (who puts him on speaker phone, natch) to try and squish the rivalry before “little Justin” gets hurt in the crossfire.

Bieber, 19, is alleged to have uttered threats and spit on his Los Angeles neighbour on March 26, and now TMZ reports that the pop star will likely be prosecuted for his actions.

The incident is reported to have taken place around 8 a.m., when Bieber was driving his new Ferrari around the neighbourbood — at 100 miles per hour. The singer’s prominent businessman neighbour went onto Bieber’s property and told him to stop driving so recklessly at which point Bieber reportedly told him to “Get the f–k out of here” — and spat in his face, adding “I’m going to f–king kill you.”

Justin Bieber’s weird week keeps getting weirder.

The Los Angeles Sherriff’s department is recommending that criminal charges be levelled against Bieber, as the Canadian sensation has shown “disregard for the law.”

Bieber has made headlines several times in the past few weeks for his increasingly erratic — and hostile — behaviour. In March, he was caught on camera lashing out at a photographer, and he arrived at an airport in Poland last week shirtless – in -10C weather. More recently he had his pet monkey, a capuchin, confiscated at a German airport.

NEW YORK — Tiffani Thiessen is probably best known for her role as Kelly Kapowski on Saved by the Bell, but the actress says she had no idea at that time how popular the teenage sitcom was.

“I mean, I was so young. I was 15 when I started that show,” Thiessen, now 39, said in a recent interview.

“I remember Mark-Paul (Gosselaar) and I touring the (United) States and going overseas. … That was the first time that I realized what an impact that show had when 5,000, 6,000, 10,000 kids were showing up to these malls and these places where we would sit there for hours and do autograph signings and pictures and stuff,” she said.

“That’s when I was really like, ‘Where am I? What is this?’ Kids wanted my empty cup of water and, you know, things like that. It was strange. I had to constantly remind myself that what I was doing was a job and I enjoyed my job and I was going back to school and do homework like all these other kids who were sitting here.”

Saved by the Bell, which also starred Mario Lopez and Dustin Diamond, aired from 1989 to 1993.

The show now airs in syndication and remains a part of the pop culture zeitgeist. Jimmy Fallon tried — unsuccessfully — to rally the cast for a reunion in 2009. (They did pose for a People magazine cover.) Justin Bieber wore a T-shirt with the likeness of Kelly Kapowski to the MuchMusic Awards in 2011.

Thiessen is grateful that she grew up in the limelight before TMZ and other 24-hour media outlets and gossip blogs came along on the Internet.

“Thank God I missed that. The photographers that would follow us were like for Teen Beat and Bop (magazines),” she said.

She said the limelight got a little more intense with her next big role as Valerie Malone on the ’90s romance drama Beverly Hills, 90210. But it was “nothing like (what) the kids are going through now.”

Thiessen credits Aaron Spelling, who was an executive producer of 90210, with giving her an interesting perspective on fame.

“Aaron Spelling said something to me a long time ago that was really interesting,” she said. “He said … movie stars are in big screens and you have to go see them in the theatre. TV stars are in people’s homes and they feel much more of a connection because you’re watching them in your home, and I thought that was really interesting because it was kind of true. A lot of people you know would stop me on the street thinking they went to high school with me.”

Thiessen divides her time between Los Angeles, where she lives with her husband and daughter, and New York City, where she films the USA series White Collar, which aired its season four series finale this week.

Matt Bomer plays former con man Neal Caffrey, who is working with the FBI to catch white-collar criminals. Her character is married to agent Peter Burke, who supervises Caffrey.

“If I wasn’t an actor, I probably would be an event planner, which is why my character, Elizabeth, on ‘White Collar’ is an event planner. It was kind of my idea. Presentation is huge for me. I love throwin’ a good party. Absolutely. Like my daughter’s birthday last year. I did all the catering, all the food, all the decor and I loved every minute of it. Of course, my husband’s like, ‘Do we have to do this much?’ I just love doing it.”

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/tiffani-thiessen-thankful-saved-by-the-bell-fame-hit-before-show-biz-became-a-247-job/feed0130311_TiffaniThiessentheassociatedpresscanadaWhich rapper made it rain the hardest? Top 7 strip club spending spreeshttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/which-rapper-made-it-rain-the-hardest-top-7-strip-club-spending-sprees
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/which-rapper-made-it-rain-the-hardest-top-7-strip-club-spending-sprees#respondTue, 05 Mar 2013 17:36:16 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=209474]]>If there’s anything that we’ve learned from rappers (specifically: 2 Chains), it’s that “Bands Will Make Her Dance” — and by “bands” we mean money. And by “her” we mean strippers. Last night, Canadian rapper Drake tried to follow in the money-hungry, grimy, footsteps of his YMCMB brothers, Lil Wayne and Birdman, by throwin’ the Benjies around like they were going out of style.

According to TMZ, the “Made It From the Bottom” lyricist tried to prove that he’s made it to the top by making it rain on some strippers with a reported $50,000 US. Sources say that Drake opened up a cardboard box to reveal a brick of cash, which eventually covered the floor like a carpet.

So, where does Drake rank on the unofficial Canada.com list of rappers who blow bills on babes in the buff? Well, we’re counting down the top rappers who made it rain the hardest.

Diddy

Diddy: $2 million (?)

Just before celebrating Memorial Day weekend in Miami, Diddy reportedly tweeted that he was going to drop a $2 million freakin’ dollars at Miami’s best-known strip club, King of Diamonds. Well, it looks like his 8.9 million Twitter followers were not too happy. Diddy later retracted his comment and claimed that he wouldn’t drop that kind of cash at a place like that. Reports say that he would still drop some dolla dolla bills but the amount was never confirmed. Hey, mo’ money, mo’ problems, right?

Rick Ross

Rick Ross: $1 million

Ricky Rozay — err, Rick Ross is no stranger when it comes to the skrippers (yes, that is a slang word, y’all). According to Hiphopdx.com, the “Hustlin'” rapper dropped a cool milly at King of Diamonds strip club in 2011. According to the site, despite celebrating his own birthday, it was Ross who was handing out the goodies. In an interview with Hot 97’s Angie Martinez, Ross told the host, “It’s nothing to go in there and have 50 ballplayers and some street dudes. It ain’t nothing to spend some real change in King of Diamonds. Well that night, we broke the club. They did not have a dollar to give us as we requested more money…not one dollar.”

Floyd Mayweather

Floyd Mayweather: $50,000

Ok, ok, ok — you caught us. Floyd Mayweather ISN’T a rapper BUT he was seen partying with Ray J while he reportedly made the papers fly at Diamonds in Atlanta. That totally counts, right?

Drake and Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne & Drake: $250,000

According to Hiphopwired.com, Weezy F and Drizzy Drake dropped a cool quarter million while partying at a strip club in 2011. It looks like Lil Wayne passed on more skillz than just how to spit out a rhyme.

Drake

Drake: $50,000

As we mentioned, Drake made headlines this week by dropping $50,000 at Cameo nightclub in Charlotte, NC. Unfortunately, his spending habits didn’t land him at the top of the list.

Birdman

Birdman: $50,000

Reports say that during Lil Wayne’s “I Am Music Tour 2” another YMCMB brother, Birdman, joined in on dropping the Benjies and made it pour down on the dancers of New York club, Perfection, with enough money to purchase a new car.

Akon

Akon: $50,000

It looks like Akon is “So Paid” after all. The singer/rapper was snapped balancing two major bricks of cash, totaling a whopping $50,000.

Lil Wayne

Lil Wayne: $30,000

It looks like King of Diamonds is the place to go if you’re looking to blow a salary’s worth of cash in one blow. Reports say that Lil Wayne arrived to the infamous strip club with a bag full cash tallying $30,000 — which, as you would guess, ended up on some naked ladies.

Fabolous

Fabolous: $28,000

Back in 2012, Fabolous made headlines by “making it rain” with $28,000 at a strip club in an Atlanta strip club.
According to TMZ it all went down (pun intended) at the King of Diamonds — where Fabolous reportedly arrived with a truckload of cash. According to the site, a local radio DJ was throwing a party and things got so hectic, bills were even stuck in the chandelier.

Chris Brown

Chris Brown: $15,000

Sources say that woman-beater, Chris Brown, treated the ladies nicely and dished out $15,000 while partying at Diamonds in Atlanta on his F.A.M.E. tour. According to TMZ, Brown was joined by his bud Bow Wow and reportedly treated three of the dancers to $5,000 tips plus unloaded a significant amount of singles on the floor.

Ick! Hayden Christensen is the latest celeb to rock a hipster beard — and it doesn’t look good!

—

Shaggy isn’t dead y’all. He’s just the latest victim of an internet rumour. Seriously, it wasn’t him — for once!

—

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/early-buzz-justin-bieber-kim-kardashian-lindsay-lohan-and-more/feed0Justin BiebermirandafurtadoKe$ha’s “Die Young” fulfills prophesy, gets yanked off the radio following Sandy Hook massacrehttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/celebrity/kehas-die-young-fulfills-prophesy-gets-yanked-off-the-radio-following-sandy-hook-massacre
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/celebrity/kehas-die-young-fulfills-prophesy-gets-yanked-off-the-radio-following-sandy-hook-massacre#commentsTue, 18 Dec 2012 17:01:36 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=170423]]>Ke$ha lastest single “Die Young” is taking its own advice, fading from the charts as sensitive radio stations pull the single in the wake of the Sandy Hook school shooting, which left 20 children and six adults dead.

TMZ is reporting radio stations across America are refusing to play the single due to implications of lyrics such as, “Let’s make the most of the night like we’re gonna die young.”

According to radio airplay tracker Mediabase, the song was the third most played song in the nation on the day of the shooting, Friday December 14, with 167 million listeners nationally, and gaining.

By Saturday airplay dropped by 3 million, TMZ reports.

By the Monday, “Die Young” had dipped to 148 million listeners, dropping 19 million listeners over three days — a trend not seen in the music industry since the Dixie Chicks were unceremoniously dropped by country radio following disparaging comments against then-President George W. Bush.

Unlike the Dixie Chicks, which eventually came out with the documentary Shut Up and Sing about their ordeal, the 25-year-old singer has thus far remained mum on the subject. Ke$ha has ignored requests for comment from several media outlets, choosing instead to tweet her sympathy to the victims of Friday’s horrible tragedy.

]]>http://o.canada.com/entertainment/celebrity/kehas-die-young-fulfills-prophesy-gets-yanked-off-the-radio-following-sandy-hook-massacre/feed1Ke$hajonathandekelThe Wanted say they’re on Team Lindsay; Lohan joins boy band in Philadelphiahttp://o.canada.com/entertainment/the-wanted-say-theyre-on-team-lindsay-lohan-joins-boy-band-in-philadelphia
http://o.canada.com/entertainment/the-wanted-say-theyre-on-team-lindsay-lohan-joins-boy-band-in-philadelphia#commentsThu, 06 Dec 2012 17:28:35 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=163699]]>Lindsay Lohan spent some more quality time with The Wanted on Wednesday night, tracking down the group in Philadelphia, where they were playing the city’s Jingle Ball concert.

And what about those stories claiming Lohan socked a Florida psychic in a fit of fangirl rage? (As per TMZ, she was jealous that Wanted member Max George was flirting with other girls.)

“It was nothing to do with us, like the whole punch-up thing,” George told Canada.com over the weekend when The Wanted played MuchMusic’s Big Jingle concert in Toronto.

“It was just we were out, got drunk,” George said, saying that he, Lohan and his bandmates had all been hanging out while they were in New York. “For a couple of days and stuff.”

As for TMZ’s suggestion that Lohan had been flirting with George, Wanted member Jay McGuiness told us: “I’d say that was just paper talk. Drawing the lines between people. I think it’s very hard to be in a room with a female, for us, and not be associated with them romantically.”

“She’s just being misconstrued,” added The Wanted’s Tom Parker.

“I dunno,” said George, adding his bit: “I’m on her side. I think she’s cool. Team Lindsay.”

That’s five guys in Lohan’s corner, anyway.

Still, don’t mess with Team Lindsay. The Wanted’s “I Found You” video should be intimidation enough.

A prominent British public relations guru said Friday he’d been approached by two women who claimed to have more material on Prince Harry, raising the possibility that the world may soon be seeing more compromising images of the British royal.

Earlier this week, celebrity gossip website TMZ published photos of Harry romping in the nude during a party at his Las Vegas hotel suite. Many Britons have laughed off the 27-year-old prince’s hijinks, but questions have been raised about his publicly-funded security detail.

In a telephone interview, publicist Max Clifford said he had been called by two American women who claim they were in the prince’s hotel room in the U.S. last week. Clifford, a savvy operator famous for negotiating kiss-and-tell interviews, said the women “said they had lots of interesting things: pictures, video, that kind of thing.”

He said he turned them down.

“I couldn’t justify this,” he said. “It’s an infringement of his privacy. That’s why I said no.”

On Thursday, TMZ claimed that “several girls” had taken pictures at the party using their cellphones as the party got started and that “more photos were taken” after the clothes came off. Neither TMZ nor Clifford has made clear whether they believe the unreleased photographs show the prince in the nude.

British publications have largely steered clear of the photographs, with the prominent exception of Rupert Murdoch’s The Sun tabloid, which became the first paper to splash the pictures across its front page on Friday with the words: “HEIR IT IS!” and marketing the grainy photograph as a “souvenir printed edition.”

Britain’s Press Complaints Commission said it has received more than 850 complaints about the naked pictures in the tabloid, mostly from members of the public. Nearly all of the complaints are about invasion of privacy and will be investigated, the commission added.

The paper said it had defied the wishes of the royal family because there was a public interest in knowing what the prince, who represented the queen at the 2012 Olympic Games and is heavily involved in charity work, got up to while abroad.

Privacy lawyer Chris Hutchings, a partner at Hamlins LLP, said the paper’s public interest argument could have traction.

“The public interest argument is on the basis that Prince Harry represents this country around the world and the photos bring into question his suitability to act as a British ambassador,” Hutchings said, although he added: “The Sun have taken a calculated risk in publishing the photos given their inherently private nature.”

Royal officials said they had no further comment on the matter after previously saying that it was down to the editors of Britain’s newspapers to decide whether they printed the controversial pictures.

As of Friday, the palace hasn’t made any official complaint.

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]]>http://o.canada.com/news/pr-guru-more-prince-harry-photos-video-may-emerge-murdochs-sun-publishes-nude-pictures/feed0thecanadianpressMMA Crossfire – Jason “Mayhem” Miller found nude in a church? What else is newhttp://o.canada.com/sports/mma-crossfire-jason-mayhem-miller-found-nude-in-a-church-what-else-is-new
http://o.canada.com/sports/mma-crossfire-jason-mayhem-miller-found-nude-in-a-church-what-else-is-new#respondTue, 14 Aug 2012 14:34:56 +0000http://o.canada.com/?p=92723]]>Following an initial report by TMZ.com , the mainstream media jumped on the story of MMA star Jason Miller being found naked in church before being arrested and jailed on suspicion of a burglary of a Southern California church.

Bail is set at $20,000 and a court appearance scheduled for Wednesday.